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Charles A Cuenod

Publications and source records attributed to Charles A Cuenod.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Placental perfusion and permeability: simultaneous assessment with dual-echo contrast-enhanced MR imaging in mice.

PURPOSE: To assess placental perfusion and permeability in mice with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted according to French law and National Institutes of Health recommendations for animal care. Twenty-two pregnant BALB/c mice were examined at 1.5 T with a single-section dual-echo fast spoiled gradient-echo sequence. Two injection protocols were used: monophasic injection (double the clinical dose of contrast agent) and biphasic injection (quadruple the clinical dose). Signal intensities (SIs) were measured in the maternal left ventricle, placenta, and fetus (n = 16). At these high gadolinium doses, a T2* effect correction was used. SIs were converted to gadolinium concentrations and were analyzed by using a three-compartment model. Quantitative microcirculation parameters were calculated. Results with the monophasic and biphasic protocols were compared, and final arterial concentrations determined with MR imaging were compared with those determined with atomic emission spectrophotometry by using the unpaired Student t test. RESULTS: Perfusion and permeability parameters for monophasic and biphasic injections were similar: Mean placental blood flow was 180 mL/min/100 g, mean permeability surface coefficient from maternal placental to fetal placental compartment was 10.3 x 10(-4) sec(-1) +/- 6.81 (standard deviation), mean permeability surface coefficient from fetal placental to maternal placental compartment was 4.65 x 10(-4) sec(-1) +/- 4.37, and mean fractional volume of the maternal vascular placental compartment was 36.5% +/- 0.9. Placental (146 vs 105 micromol/L, P < .004) and fetal (33.3 vs 19.1 micromol/L, P < .001) gadolinium concentrations were higher with the biphasic than with the monophasic protocol. Arterial gadolinium concentrations at MR imaging did not differ significantly from those at spectrophotometry for the monophasic (P = .254) or biphasic (P = .776) injection protocol. CONCLUSION: Placental perfusion and permeability can be measured in vivo by using high gadolinium doses and a dual-echo MR imaging sequence.

Animals↗

New criteria for assessing fit quality in dynamic contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI for perfusion and permeability imaging.

Contrast-enhanced (CE) MRI provides in vivo physiological information that cannot be obtained by conventional imaging methods. This information is generally extracted by using models to represent the circulation of contrast agent in the body. However, the results depend on the quality of the fit obtained with the chosen model. Therefore, one must check the fit quality to avoid working on physiologically irrelevant parameters. In this study two dimensionless criteria-the fraction of modeling information (FMI) and the fraction of residual information (FRI)-are proposed to identify errors caused by poor fit. These are compared with more conventional criteria, namely the quadratic error and the correlation coefficient, both theoretically and with the use of simulated and real CE-MRI data. The results indicate the superiority of the new criteria. It is also shown that these new criteria can be used to detect oversimplified models.

Algorithms↗

Glucose-receptor MR imaging of tumors: study in mice with PEGylated paramagnetic niosomes.

PURPOSE: To evaluate a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging contrast agent for tumor detection based on paramagnetic nonionic vesicles (niosomes) bearing polyethylene glycol (PEG) and glucose conjugates for the targeting of overexpressed glucose receptors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four gadobenate dimeglumine-loaded niosome preparations including nonconjugated niosomes, niosomes bearing glucose conjugates (N-palmitoyl glucosamine [NPG]), niosomes bearing PEG 4400, and niosomes bearing both PEG and NPG were tested. In vitro cellular uptake was measured at electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) after incubation with human prostate carcinoma, PC3, cells. In vivo distribution was studied at MR imaging 6, 12, and 24 hours after injection, with assessment of tumor, brain, liver, and muscle signal intensity (SI) in 49 mice bearing PC3 cells. Efficiency of targeted contrast agents was assessed with tumor-to-muscle contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). Testing for differences was performed with analysis of variance followed by a posteriori Fisher test. RESULTS: In vitro, gadolinium could be detected at EPR only in cell pellets incubated with niosomes bearing glucose conjugates or niosomes bearing both glucose conjugates and PEG (4.9. 10(-15) and 4.5. 10(-15) mol gadolinium per PC3 cell). In vivo, marked predominant tumor enhancement was demonstrated 24 hours after injection of glycosylated PEG niosomes (P <.01); no significant differences were observed following injection of nonconjugated niosomes, glycosylated niosomes, or PEG 4400 niosomes. Twenty-four hours after injection, sole presence of NPG or PEG 4400 on the surface of the niosome led to higher tumor-to-muscle CNR than that observed after injection of nonconjugated niosomes (CNR of 3.3 +/- 0.7 [SD], 3.4 +/- 2.2, and 0 +/- 1.9). Combination of NPG and PEG led to even higher tumor-to-muscle CNR (6.3 +/- 2.2). CONCLUSION: Combination of PEG and glucose conjugates on the surface of niosomes significantly improved tumor targeting of an encapsulated paramagnetic agent assessed with MR imaging in a human carcinoma xenograft model.

Animals↗