Disclosed herein are complexes of gadolinium metal, ligand and meglumine that are substantially free of non-aqueous solvents. In particular, solvent-free complexes of 1) gadopentetate dimeglumine and 2) gadoterate meglumine are disclosed and methods of their preparation are disclosed. In addition, methods are disclosed for purifying reactants, monitoring and controlling pH, quantifying the free gadolinium content, quantifying the concentration of gadolinium-ligand complex in aqueous solution, and procedures for producing a drug product in one step. The one step process eliminates the need to dry the gadolinium-ligand complex, which is typically highly hygroscopic. The one step process includes purification steps that do not require the use of non-aqueous solvents.

The present invention provides a .sup.19F-MR/fluorescence multi-mode molecular imaging and drug loading diagnosis-treatment integrated nanoprobe, and a preparation method and an application. The nano-probe is a nanoparticle formed by coating a mixture of a surfactant containing a molecular targeting treatment drug and a fluorescent dye with a Perfluorocarbon (PFC) carrier; and by uniformly dispersing a mixed solution into water and glycerol, processing ultrasonically, removing a component which is not effectively coated, and purifying, the drug-loading nanoparticle capable of being used for 19 F-MR imaging may be prepared. The nano-probe may implement in-vivo 19F-MR molecular imaging; a carried molecular targeting treatment drug can implement targeted binding and targeted treatment; and by virtue of a characteristic that PFC in a nucleus may carry and release oxygen massively, an anaerobious microenvironment in the tumor is improved, a chemosensitization effect is achieved, and thus the diagnosis-treatment integration of the tumor is implemented finally.

Gadolinium based contrast agents (GCA) incorporating linear ligand chelation are fundamentally different from GCAs incorporating macrocyclic ligands. The macrocyclic\GCAs are synthesized by pathways characterized by the formation of a sequence of metastable complexes before obtaining the final stable complex. The synthesis of linear GCAs do not form metastable complexes. Commercial macrocyclic GCAs contain unstable metastable complexes. These metastable species are not regulated and quickly release free Gd3+ ions upon administration into the body. Gadolinium based contrast agents with near zero metastable species content and methods of synthesizing the same are disclosed. Gadolinium based contrast agents with long dissociation time in the body, and low free Gd3+ ion formation are obtained using a synthesis method which departs in novel ways from the traditional free Gd3+-based synthesis methods.

In the present invention, the development of various oil-in-water (O/W) nanoemulsions containing an oil phase or oil core, preferably selected from vitamin E or oleic acid, stabilized by a sphingolipid of the sphingomyelin type, and optionally other lipids such as phospholipids, cholesterol, octadecylamine, DOTAP (N-[1-(2,3-Dioleoyloxy) propyl]-N, N, N-trimethylammonium methyl-sulfate), and PEGylated derivatives (derivatives with polyethylene glycol), for use as a nanotech vehicle, in particular for the management of cancer and metastatic disease, is herein described. Said nanoemulsions can be functionalized with ligands capable of interacting or binding to receptors expressed on the cell membrane of tumor cells, and in particular capable of interacting or binding to receptors expressed on the membrane of primary and/or disseminated or metastatic tumor cells. Also, antitumor drugs or therapeutic biomolecules can be encapsulated in said nanoemulsions and, finally, contrast agents can be incorporated for their use in the in vivo diagnosis in said nanoemulsions.

One embodiment of the present invention relates to a nanoemulsion and a preparation method therefor, the nanoemulsion comprising an oil component, a surfactant, and an aqueous component, wherein the aqueous component comprises a water-soluble active ingredient, a polysaccharide, and hyaluronic acid.

The present description relates to an emulsion comprising an amphiphilic compound, a first phase comprising droplets including at least one perfluorocarbon compound and a second phase, which is aqueous. The droplets have a diameter d.sub.4,3 of between 0.5 pm and 5.5 pm, and the at least one perfluorocarbon compound has a boiling point above 100° C. The present description also relates to such an emulsion for use as an improving agent in ultrasound ablation surgery (FIG. 3).

A significant enhancement of detection capabilities of the room temperature MPQ is seen using optical lithography-defined, ferromagnetic iron-nickel alloy microdisks. Irreversible transitions between strongly non-collinear (vortex) and a collinear single domain states, driven by an ac magnetic field, translate into a nonlinear magnetic response that enables ultrasensitive detection of material at relatively small magnetic fields.

Methods and apparatus for the study of gastrointestinal transit in a human or animal subject. The method being for the study of a subject which has previously ingested a container containing first and second fluids that are detectable and distinguishable by MRI, which method comprises the steps of forming a first magnetic resonance image of at least a portion of the subject's GI tract in which the container is located, wherein the magnetizations of the first and second fluids are in-phase; forming a second magnetic resonance image, coincident with the first image, wherein the magnetizations of the first and second fluids are out-of-phase; and subtracting the second image from the first image, or vice versa, to form a composite image.

The present disclosure provides a pH and oxygen dual-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent and a preparation method thereof, which is a dual-modal nanoparticle contrast agent with .sup.19F signal and CEST dual signal (.sup.19F-CEST), a CEST contrast agent that is dual-sensitive to pH and oxygen. The preparation method comprises: mixing a variety of phospholipid surfactants and cholesterol well to obtain a blend of phospholipid surfactants, which is dissolved in chloroform or a mixed solvent of chloroform and methanol, evaporated to dryness with a rotary evaporator and dried overnight in a vacuum oven at 40 C. after adding rhodamine, finally, it is dispersed in water containing glycerin by mechanical dispersion or ultrasonic vibration to obtain a lipid modifier; mixing perfluorocarbon, the lipid modifier obtained in step (1), glycerin, and water and ultrasonically mixing well with a probe, and extruding with an extruder to prepare a perfluorocarbon nanoemulsion.

This disclosure provides compositions of metal-binding fluorinated compounds and associated methods for producing cellular labels for tracking cells by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), and related methods.