I have several synthesized quantum dots and magnetic particles. I feel that they can be used as contrast agent for bio imaging. So for that I want to do some lab based experiment. Then go for animal model. So please guide me what are the primarily experiments that are possible to proceed in this area.
I do not exactly know which type of quantum dots and magnetic particle you are talking about. If you want, we can communicate privately.
It may have better application to magnetic particle imaging (MPI), rather than MRI. However, these MPI scanners are extremely rare and only 2-3 scanner exists in the entire world. None the less, I can see MPI getting popular in near future (4-5 years) and so, developing contrast agent would be well worth the efforts. Of course, if you can convince me that idea is worth pursuing, then I can help you with getting access to MPI.
Also, you should keep in mind that getting any contrast agent approved for clinical use is a big deal. First it should show no toxic effect in human. Second, it should either give unique contrast , not possible with existing contrast agents OR, it should have added values in comparison with other existing approved contrast agent.
Also, if you think about some neurological application, you would have to worry about blood brain barrier in our head. For instance, Gadilinum-based contrast agent can not cross blood brain barrier (BBB) and hence, its deposition is a measure of integrity of BBB. These loss of integrity could be due to stroke, tumor, lesions. On the other hand, MnCl2 can cross BBB and can be used to map change in perfusion. However, this particular contrast agent is not approved in human, though can be used in animal expt.
Also, it may not be possible to give you any specific advice without knowing about the properties of your contrast agent. MRI is an extremely rich field, quite unlike other field of medical imaging. There are numerous modalities/sequences probing different aspect of tissues and most of these sequences do not need any external contrast agent.
Thanks to both of you for your valuable suggestions. Actually I have synthesized quantum dots which are bio compatible; fluorescent in nature. And I am very much interested in some primarily experiments to start with as I don't have any idea to work in this area. So thats why I am asking how to approach in this. In other words suppose I have synthesized some material and have already checked its bio compatibility and now How will I proceed further for MRI imaging?
With respect to MRI, one would probably be interested mainly in the relaxivity (r1, r2) of your particles. The relaxivity is basically the property of a material to shorten the T1 (or T2) relaxation time constants (i. e., to increase the relaxation rates R1,2 = 1/T1,2) of the solvent (typically water or, for in vivo applications, blood plasma) depending on the concentration c of your agent:
R1(c) = R1(c=0) + c r1
Magnetic resonance measurements of the relaxivity can be performed by measuring the relaxation rates (or time constants) at different concentrations of your agent.
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