Researchers from the Guerbet Group and the University of Münster in Germany recently found that 75 percent of the total gadolinium found in the cerebellum of a rat's brain after the injection period of the linear contrast agent gadodiamide was still retained after one year.
The study aimed to compare how the brain's cerebellum eliminates gadolinium after repeated injections of the contrast agents gadodiamide (a linear contrast agent) or gadoterate (a macrocyclic contrast agent). Findings were published online on May 22 in Radiology.
"After repeated administration of gadodiamide, a large portion of gadolinium was retained in the brain, with binding of soluble gadolinium to macromolecules," wrote lead author Philippe Robert, PhD, and colleagues. "After repeated injection of gadoterate, only traces of the intact chelated gadolinium were observed with time-dependent clearance."
To analyze gadolinium brain retention in kinetic and molecular forms, Robert and his team analyzed 140 nine-week-old rats, all of which received five doses of 2.4 mmol gadolinium per kilogram of body weight over five weeks.
The rats were then monitored for one year with T1-weighted MRI and sacrificed at various time points post injection for researchers to accumulate brain and plasma samples from the rats' cerebellums, the researchers wrote.
Despite their findings, however, the researchers prompted for additional research to conducted in order to clearly characterize the nature of the macromolecules that the contrast agent binds itself to.
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A recent graduate from Dominican University (IL) with a bachelor’s in journalism, Melissa joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering all aspects of health imaging. She’s a fan of singing and playing guitar, elephants, a good cup of tea, and her golden retriever Cooper.