Figure 2

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based biodistributional analysis of pHPMA-gadolinium (Gd). (A) MR angiography scans of the chest and head region of a rat, of a tumour-bearing paw, and of an AT1 tumour, obtained at 0.5 h after the intravenous (i.v.) injection of 25 kDa pHPMA-Gd. A color-coded maximal intensity projection (MIP) of the polymer-visualised perfusion of the tumour is depicted in the right panel. (B) Dynamic, color-coded MRI T1 determination obtained for AT1 tumour, for kidney and for liver before contrast agent administration and at various time points after the i.v. injection of a low (0.5 kDa Gd-DTPA-BMA) and high (25 kDa Gd-pHPMA) molecular weight MR contrast agent. Note that contrast agent accumulation corresponds to a decrease in the T1 signal. (C) Quantification of the concentrations of gadolinium in AT1 tumour, kidney, and liver upon the i.v. injection of Gd-DTPA-BMA and pHPMA-Gd. Values represent average±s.d. (n=3). ^* Indicates P<0.05 (paired t-test).