DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL MINERAL CONTRAST AGENT FOR ORTHOPAEDIC RESEARCH
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Date
2011-09
Department
Hood College Biology
Program
Biomedical and Environmental Science
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Abstract
Osteoporosis is a bone disease that increases the risk of
fracture. In normal bone, mineral is resorbed by osteoclasts and
replaced with new mineral by osteoblasts in a balanced manner. In
osteoporotic bone, the rate of resorption outpaces new bone
formation, so the bone degenerates. Osteoporosis is currently
diagnosed using dual-emission x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) which
measures the density of bone. This technique only provides static
information. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive
technique that generates a 3-dimensional image. The goal of this
project was to prepare and optimize a novel targeted contrast
agent, Gadolinium-Alendronate (Gd-ALN), for imaging bone, which
consists of the MRI-active metal chelate Gadolinium-DOTA
conjugated to the mineral binding bisphosphonate, Alendronate.
Gd-ALN was evaluated against fluorescently-labeled Alendronate
(FL-ALN) for its selective binding to mineral using natural and tissue
engineered samples. Utilization of MRI contrast agents like Gd-ALN,
is promising technology to evaluate the efficacy of osteoporosis
treatments.