Figure 2.

Renal clearance after cat-USPIOs IV administration in male Wistar rat.

Notes: (A) Typical series of MRI images of a Wistar rat after IV administration of 50 mg/kg of cat-USPIOs, highlighting the variation in the density of white pixels in the kidneys, indicated by yellow circles. The leftmost image was taken before injection of cat-USPIOs (control), and then after 2, 4, and 24 hours after injection. The head of the rat is pointing up. (B) The average of normalized density of white pixels of four subsequent scans of kidneys as a function of time after IV administration of 50 mg/kg of cat-USPIOs. The concentration is inversely proportional to the density of white pixels in magnetic resonance signals.

Abbreviations: cat-USPIOs, cationic ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; IV, intravenous.