MRI of Intrabiliary Delivery of Motexafin Gadolinium Into Common Bile Duct Walls: In Vitro and Ex Vivo Evaluations

feng zhang¹, Huidong Gu¹, Yanfeng Meng¹, Bensheng Qiu¹, Xiaoming Yang¹

MR imaging was used to investigate the capability of Motexafin gadolinium(MGd) entering human cholangiocarcinoma cells (Mz-ChA-1) and the feasibility of intrabiliary local delivery of MGd into the common bile duct(CBD) wall. T1 weighted MR imaging of Mz-ChA-1 cells treated with MGd demonstrated a linear increase of signal intensities(SI) from 25 to 75-g/mL MGd, and a plateau pattern of SIs from 75 to 150-g/mL MGd. Confocal microscopy showed MGd internalized Mz-ChA-1 cells as intracytoplasm pink dots. Ex vivo experiments revealed significant higher contrast-to-noise ratio in the MGd-infused CBD walls than that in the controlled CBD walls with phosphate-buffered saline.