Ultra-high resolution contrast agent
Image the tiniest vessels, functioning kidneys
- Low toxicity (LD50 >1.4 g Au/kg) – Biocompatible!
- Low osmolality even at high concentrations
- Low viscosity: inject even into small vessels
- Longer blood residence than iodine
- Biphasic blood clearance:
Fast component: t1/2 ~10 min,
Slow: t1/2 ~1.5 hrs - Excellent for imaging with microCT
- 1.9 nm gold core, ~50,000 Da
- Small gold nanoparticles clear through kidneys
- Highest kidney contrast agent available
MicroCT of mouse kidney after iv injection of AuroVist 1.9nm gold nanoparticle xray contrast agent
Gold nanoparticles:
Ideal for imaging by microCT
Gold has several advantages over the conventional iodine-based contrast reagents.
Gold achieves better contrast than iodine for both micro-CT and clinical CT applications.
At appropriate beam energies*, gold achieves a contrast up to 3 times greater than iodine per unit mass, and initial blood contrast greater than 1,000 Hounsfeld Units (HU).
Furthermore, gold concentrations up to three times those of iodine can be achieved, providing a total contrast gain of nearly ten times.
*For micro-CT, beam energy should be just above gold’s 12-14-keV L-edge, while for clinical CT it can be tuned to just above gold’s 80.7-keV K-edge.
Unlike iodine, AuroVist™ has very low viscosity and osmolality, and therefore may be injected and used in small blood vessels without risk of vascular damage.
20 µm blood vessels in live animals have been successfully imaged with microCT, and vascular casts obtained for the first time.
Small orthotopic colon tumors were also detected in vivo using gold nanoparticles and microCT.
Kidney fine structure may be imaged up to an hour or more after injection; concentration in the kidneys can provide contrast values as high as 1,500 HU or more.
AuroVist™ has demonstrated low acute toxicities, and pharmacokinetics have been found to be acceptable.
Kidneys in live mouse after IV injection of AuroVist™ 1.9nm. Kidney function is visualized as small gold nanoparticles are filtered from the blood, passing through glomeruli, tubules and into ureters. Taken with a mammography unit (8 mA.sec, 22 kVp).
Live mouse, 5 minutes after injection with AuroVist™ 1.9 nm xray contrast agent.
In vivo vascular casting
MicroCT of mouse inferior vena cava after injection of AuroVist 1.9 nm xray contrast agent.
Xray of mouse hind legs in vivo and AuroVistTM 1.9nm injection. Leg on right side of image has a subcutaneous tumor, showing increased vascular gold. Taken with a mammography unit (8 mA.sec, 22 kVp).
In the literature
“The AuNPs [AuroVist™ 1.9 nm] show significant CT image enhancement as compared to iohexol contrast agent (trade name Omnipaque).”
“Excellent tumor image enhancement is also obtained due to nanoparticle extravasation across tumor capillary pores. Such small NPs show a much higher diffusion coefficient than larger NPs. Several additional studies using these same nanoparticles show the potential of using AuNP in X-ray cancer radiotherapy (RT).”
Laura Nebuloni, Gisela A. Kuhn, Ralph Müller. A Comparative Analysis of Water-Soluble and Blood-Pool Contrast Agents for in vivo Vascular Imaging with Micro-CT. Academic Radiology 2013; 20:1247–1255.
It's not just for vascular imaging...
Designed for tumor visualization
AuroVist™ enhances radiotherapy!
As part of our ongoing cancer research here at Nanoprobes, AuroVist™ was engineered to specifically load into tumors from the bloodstream. These nanoparticles take advantage of the unique features of cancerous vasculature, concentrating and collecting in tumors anywhere in the body after a simple i.v. injection.
In addition, the gold nanoparticles are excellent at absorbing radiation– turning this simple contrast agent into a powerful magnifier of radiotherapy.
The quest continues… Our newest version, VivoVist™ provides all of these fantastic features, but with an inexpensive core that is equally non-toxic. The ultimate xray contrast agent for animal studies of vasculature and cancer research!
Check out our newest contrast agent for micro CT:
The ultimate xray contrast agent
Highest resolution • Highest contrast • Lowest price
- Non-toxic, 24 hour blood pool contrast agent
- Low-cost materials – great for animal studies
- Specifically loads tumors after i.v. injection
- High-density, radioabsorptive material
Head of a live mouse imaged by microCT following intravenous VivoVist™ administration. Image kindly provided by Dr. Sean Marrelli, Department of Neurology at the McGovern Medical School at UT Health (Houston, TX).