Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology Workshop, Lorne, Victoria, Australia.

An abstract was not submitted for this presentation, but was on the same research project as presented at another conference this same year. The text for this abstract is below:

¹⁹F-MRI offers a unique diagnostic platform with minimal endogenous background signal in vivo and increased sensitivity.  Consequently, a targeted polyfluorinated contrast enhancement agent would be of significant benefit to clinicians for the diagnosis of a variety of diseases.  This report describes the synthesis of a hyperbranched ¹⁹F-MRI contrast enhanced polymer that was targeted towards a variety of carcinomas, and is “switched on” in cancerous tissue via a stimuli-responsive linker. A Gd³⁺ bound DOTA chelator connected via a cleavable disulfide linker was incorporated into the polymer.  While bound, the T2 of ¹⁹F remained too short to detect; but when cleaved by glutathione the ¹⁹F signal was observed, as the Gd³⁺ was no longer in close enough proximity to elicit a relaxation effect.  The T1 and T2s of both ¹H and ¹⁹F were measured for the polymer in varying concentrations of glutathione to illustrate this concept, yielding promising results.