Methods for molecular MRI

Significant progress has been made in the field of molecular imaging. Guiding application of this technology has been the need to test, in vivo and in real time, hypotheses developed in multiple scientific fields. Because of the superb anatomical resolution already available with MR imaging several investigators have attempted to develop MR molecular imaging agents that would be useful to image gene expression and cellular biochemistry in vivo. Significant advances have been made and it is now possible to use MR for the detection and/or imaging of enzyme activity, protein and RNA levels, protein-protein interactions, pH changes, receptor activity, and calcium fluxes. The future for molecular MR imaging will include imaging based on information contained in complex molecular signatures and will render 3D images describing complex biochemical phenomena