Abstract
Simultaneously being a non-radiative and non-invasive technique makes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) one of the highly sought imaging techniques for the early diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Despite more than four decades of research on finding a suitable imaging agent from fluorine for clinical applications, it still lingers as a challenge to get the regulatory approval compared to its hydrogen counterpart. The pertinent hurdle is the simultaneous intrinsic hydrophobicity and lipophobicity of fluorine and its derivatives that make them insoluble in any liquids, strongly limiting their application in areas such as targeted delivery. A blossoming technique to circumvent the unfavorable physicochemical characteristics of perfluorocarbon compounds (PFCs) and guarantee a high local concentration of fluorine in the desired body part is to encapsulate them in nanosystems. In this review, we will be emphasizing different types of nanocarrier systems studied to encapsulate various PFCs and fluorinated compounds, headway to be applied as a contrast agent (CA) in fluorine-19 MRI (19F MRI). We would also scrutinize, especially from studies over the last decade, the different types of PFCs and their specific applications and limitations concerning the nanoparticle (NP) system used to encapsulate them. A critical evaluation for future opportunities would be speculated.
Highlights
For an early stage detection of a disease or a routine medical checkup, it is preferable to have a non-invasive, cost-effective, and patient-friendly technique that makes it approachable and reassuring [1]
Insignificant amounts of endogenous fluorine are embedded in the teeth and bone matrix of the human body. This immobilized fluorine (
This inspection facilitated to show for the first time that the PRE effect of surface Gd3+ complexes was effective for fluorine compounds in NPs over 50 Å [279] that were contradictory to the study of De Vries et al, who previously observed that the distance between Gd3+ complexes and the fluorine core was less than 22 Å for the PRE of perfluoro-15-crown-5 ether (PFCE) in Gd3+ modified nanoemulsions [280]
Summary
For an early stage detection of a disease or a routine medical checkup, it is preferable to have a non-invasive, cost-effective, and patient-friendly technique that makes it approachable and reassuring [1]. Screening (detecting diseases in early stages) and identifying the extent of the disease, monitoring for disease recurrence, personalized medicine (selecting patient and disease-specific therapeutic treatment), measuring molecular-specific effects of treatment, predicting and monitoring response to therapy are within the realm of its possibilities [2]. The parameters taken into consideration before choosing an imaging modality are its depth of penetration, temporal resolution (how quickly the image can be acquired/acquisition time), anatomical resolution, spatial resolution, sensitivity (ability to depict molecular features of imaging areas), multiplexing capabilities (ability to simultaneously image/visualize multiple molecular targets), etc. Some of the modalities for molecular imaging are optical, photoacoustic (PAI), ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET)/single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), X-ray, and MRI
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