Purpose:To assess magnitude and duration of changes in myocardial longitudinal relaxation rate (R 1 ) in humans following infusion of the manganese (Mn) releasing contrast agent MnDPDP (Mn-dipyridoxyl-diphosphate).
Materials and Methods:Fifteen healthy volunteers were divided into three groups. After initial myocardial and liver R 1 measurements using an inversion recovery (IR) turbo fast low-angle shot (FLASH) sequence at 1.5 Tesla, the groups were given different doses of intravenous MnDPDP: 5, 10 and 15 mol/kg body weight, respectively, over 30 minutes. R 1 measurements were then repeated at 1, 2, 4, 8, and 24 hours after the infusion ended.
Results:The left ventricular wall R 1 prevalue was 0.98 second -1 (Ϯ0.04). R 1 increased on average (all 15 subjects) 0.41 second -1 (Ϯ0.09). The increase was present one hour after the end of the infusion, remained relatively constant the next two hours, and then declined gradually. After 24 hours, there was still a moderate R 1 elevation present, with an average R 1 -value of 1.16 (Ϯ0.05). There were only small differences in myocardial R 1 responses between the three doses investigated, which was contrasted by a marked dose-response in liver tissue.
Conclusion:MnDPDP gave a significant and prolonged rise in myocardial R 1 even at a dose of 5 mol/kg. The R 1 -values in the myocardium did not increase linearly with higher doses. THE USE OF manganese-containing contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the study of the myocardium has been debated for several years. The background for this interest in manganese is that myocardial cells actively accumulate manganese ions (Mn 2ϩ ) through voltage-dependent slow calcium channels in the cell membrane (1-4). This has raised the question of whether intracellular manganese can be used as a contrast agent for MRI-based myocardial viability diagnosis.Thus far, several research groups have studied myocardial effects of manganese in MRI. Early studies showed that manganese contrast could be used to demarcate infarcted regions in animal hearts, first in excised hearts (5,6), and later on in images obtained with live animals (7-9). The accumulated manganese led to markedly increased longitudinal relaxation rates (R 1 ) in normal myocardium (3,8 -11). Theoretically, the relationship between the concentration of contrast agent in a tissue and the corresponding R 1 should be close to linear. Southon et al (11) demonstrated a steady increase in myocardial R 1 in pigs with intravenous doses of manganese dipyridoxyl diphosphate (MnDPDP) up to 20 mol/kg. Both Bremerich et al (8) and Wendland et al (9) found that R 1 -values increased with increasing doses of MnDPDP in rat myocardium. Both studies used doses of 25, 50, and 100 mol/kg, given over 1.5 and 3 minutes, respectively. Both showed an initial higher rise in R 1 in infarcted myocardium 5-10 minutes after the infusions than in normal myocardium. However, these initial high R 1 -values in infarcted myocardium decreased with time, while normal myocardium had a steady increa...