Author(s)

Teemu Kalliokoski, Erkki Svedström, Jani Saunavaara, Anne Roivainen, Mikko Kankaanpää, Heikki Oivanen, Pirjo Nuutila, Olli Simell

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To explore the possibility to use 1.5 T MRI in imaging of accumulating gadolinium (Gd) into inflamed en- docrine pancreas (insulitis), we compared intravenously delivered IL-2-Gd-DTPA and Gd-DTPA (Magne- vist®) in phenotypically healthy 12 weeks old female non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice. At 1 to 48 h after the injection mice were sacrificed and the pancreas-to-background ratio was determined using MRI. In addition Gd concentration of the pancreas and plasma were measured. The pancreas-to-plasma ratio of Gd was 25-fold 24 h after the i.v. injection of IL-2-Gd-DTPA. At the same time the pancreas-to-background ratio measured with 1.5T MRI was 1.5-times higher in the NOD mice receiving IL-2-Gd-DTPA than Magnevist® (271 ± 37 vs. 183 ± 0,1, P = 0.04) indicating that sufficient differences may exist between IL-2-Gd-DTPA accumulating in the pancreas and in the surrounding tissues to support the use of MRI for imaging of pan- creatic insulitis.

IL-2, MRI, Imaging, Insulitis, NOD Mice

T. Kalliokoski, E. Svedström, J. Saunavaara, A. Roivainen, M. Kankaanpää, H. Oivanen, P. Nuutila and O. Simell, "Imaging of Insulitis in NOD Mice with IL-2-Gd-DTPA and 1.5 T MRI," Advances in Molecular Imaging, Vol. 1 No. 3, 2011, pp. 43-49. doi: 10.4236/ami.2011.13006.