Fluorine Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Over the past decade, fluorine (19F) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has garnered significant scientific interest in the biomedical research community owing to the unique properties of fluorinated materials and the 19F nucleus. Fluorine has an intrinsically sensitive nucleus for MRI. There is negligible endogenous 19F in the body and thus there is no background signal. Fluorine-containing compounds are ideal tracer labels for a wide variety of MRI applications. Moreover, the chemical shift and nuclear relaxation rate can be made responsive to physiology via creative molecular design.

This book is an interdisciplinary compendium that details cutting-edge science and medical research in the emerging field of 19F MRI. Edited by Ulrich Flögel and Eric Ahrens, two prominent MRI researchers, this book will appeal to investigators involved in MRI, biomedicine, immunology, pharmacology, probe chemistry, and imaging physics.

Technical Issues. Pulse Sequence Considerations and Schemes. Advanced Detection Techniques and Hardware: Simultaneous 1H/19F. Hyperpolarization for Signal Enhancement (Naumann/Bernading; Magdeburg, Germany) 19F Imaging Agents. Active Targeting of Perfluorocarbon Nanoemulsions. Responsive Probes for 19F MRS/MRI Inflammation Imaging. Imaging Acute Organ Transplant Rejection with 19F MRI. Cardiac Disease. Monitoring of Specific Cell Populations. Tracking Lymphocytes in vivo. Tracking of Dendritic Cells. Neural Stem Cells. Pharmacology. Fluorinated Drugs and Natural Products. Other Biomedical Applications. Imaging of the Respiratory System. Tracking of Capsules and Catheters in the Human Gastrointestinal Tract. Perspectives. Perfluorocarbon Theranostic Nanomedicines: Pharmaceutical Scientist’s Perspective.

Ulrich Flögel is professor of experimental cardiovascular imaging at the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany. His research focuses on the interplay of function, energetics, metabolism, and inflammation and its role in the development of cardiovascular diseases using innovative multinuclear MRI/MRS techniques.

Eric Ahrens is professor of radiology and director of Stem Cell Molecular Imaging at the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on adapting MRI to visualize cellular and molecular events in vivo. His lab is developing novel materials and methods for MRI-based cell tracking that are used for monitoring cell therapies and cellular immunological processes.