A new class of nanovesicles formed by the self-assembly of amphiphilic Janus dendrimers, dendrimersomes, loaded with hydrophilic or amphiphilic magnetic resonance imaging chelates shows promising properties as a novel, efficient and versatile nanoplatform for biomedical imaging.

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The goal of this work was to study via NMR the unaltered metabolic profile of Sardinian Vermentino grape berry. Seven selections of Vermentino were harvested from the same vineyard. Berries were stored and extracted following an unbiased extraction protocol. Extracts were analyzed to investigate variability in metabolites concentration as a function of the clone, the position of berries in the bunch or growing area within the vineyard. Quantitative NMR and statistical analysis (PCA, correlation analysis, Anova) of the experimental data point out that, among the investigated sources of variation, the position of the berries within the bunch mainly influences the metabolic profile of berries, while the metabolic profile does not seem to be significantly influenced by growing area and clone. Significant variability of the amino acids such as arginine, proline, and organic acids (malic and citric) characterizes the rapid rearrangements of the metabolic profile in response to environmental stimuli. Finally, an application is described on the analysis of metabolite variation throughout the physiological development of berries.

The Curie spin relaxation mechanism is by far the principal mechanism involved in the T2 shortening of the water protons in suspension of paramagnetic liposomes at 14T. The access to IRON contrast extends the potential of such nanosystems as MRI contrast agents.

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Although nowadays there is a renewed and growing interest in Mn-based contrast agents, there are only few studies dealing with Mn-based lipophilic nanoparticles and how they may be optimized as MRI contrast agents. Three amphiphilic paramagnetic Mn­(II) complexes based on derivatives of EDTA and 1,4-DO2A were used for the preparation of lipidic nanoparticles. The length and position of the aliphatic chains were found to control whether either vesicular liposomes, nonvesicular bicelles, or a mixture of both was produced as well as the size and morphology of phospholipid-based self-assembling nanoaggregates. These differences determine whether hydrophilic Gd-based contrast agents or fluorescent dyes can be entrapped in the aqueous core of the nanoaggregate. Structural characterization was performed by cryo-TEM. Detailed 1H NMR relaxometric analyses were carried out on all systems. The effect of entrapping gadoteridol in the aqueous core (where present) was studied by preparing diamagnetic amphiphilic Zn­(II) analogues. In the case of homogeneous systems, the data were also fitted to obtain the relaxometric parameters for comparison with literature data. The results of these studies demonstrate enhanced relaxivity of the nanoaggregates with respect to monomeric analogues. This work allowed us to understand how to control the formation of different types of nanovesicles (liposomes, bicelles, and micelles), optimize their MRI contrast, and provide different in vivo biodistribution characteristics.

The evaluation of milk heat treatment on dairy products via reliable analytical methods is a challenging issue that involves both industrial and fundamental research. We describe a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol for discriminating Sardinian sheep milk cheese originating from heat-treated or raw milk. Thirty-six samples (18 pecorino cheeses manufactured from heat-treated milk and 18 Fiore Sardo cheeses made from raw milk) were investigated by means of MRI and bi-exponential signal decay analysis. The protocol is capable of discerning cheeses by virtue of the different distribution of the transversal (T2) relaxation time constant. Cheeses from heat-treated milk showed a significantly higher area fraction (≈70-80%), corresponding to the fast relaxing water protons (T2 ≈ 9 ms), compared with raw milk cheeses, whereas the opposite was observed for the long T2 (T2 ≈ 35 ms) proton population. The MRI protocol described is rapid and nondestructive, and it provides statistically significant discrimination between ewe milk cheeses made from heat-treated and raw milk.