Investigation of cyano-bridged coordination nanoparticles Gd3+/[Fe(CN)(6)](3-)/D-mannitol as T-1-weighted MRI contrast agents

Cyano-bridged Gd3+/[Fe(CN)(6)](3-)coordination polymer nanoparticles of 3-4 nm stabilized with D-mannitol presenting a high r(1) relaxivity value of 11.4 mM(-1) s(-1) were investigated in vivo as contrast agents (CA) for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). They allow an increase of the MR image contrast and can act as an efficient intravascular T-1 CA with a relatively long blood-circulation lifetime (60 min) without specific toxicity.