Nano Diamond

The rare earth metal gadolinium is the most common contrasting agent used in MRI imaging, but like any drug, proper dosing depends upon patients’ metabolic rates, and gadolinium can be toxic to the kidneys.  Recently, chemistry professor Thomas Meade and colleagues, at Northwestern University, reported that attaching gadolinium to carbon “nano diamonds” increased the contrast effect some 15 fold.  This means good images can come from smaller amounts of the agent.          MORE

Image Credit:   American Chemical Society and Technology Review