Studio pre-clinico sulla ritenzione del gadolinio nei tessuti di modelli animali sani: un focus sugli organi poco approfonditi in letteratura

Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) are commonly employed in clinics, due to their ability to enhance T1 contrast in magnetic resonance (MR) images, providing precious additional information useful to diagnose different kind of diseases. Nevertheless, several studies have demonstrated the retention of small amounts of gadolinium (Gd) in different organs, such as brain, kidneys and liver, even in patients without diagnosed renal dysfunctions. This issue has been demonstrated to be more frequent with the employment of linear GBCAs with respect to macrocyclic ones. Several studies have focused on the retention of Gd in the organs above mentioned, but not much attention have been paid to bladder, spleen and bone marrow, despite their potential to accumulate high amounts of metals. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the retention of Gd and its washout kinetics in different organs, with a particular attention to bladder, spleen and bones. To perform this study, gadoteridol was administered to mice then sacrificed at different timepoints, in order to evaluate the different retentions and excretion kinetics. The results highlighted that bladder, which was never investigated for Gd retention in the past, can be an extremely specific organ for the metal retention. Concerning the spleen, the amount of Gd found in the fibrous part was surprisingly higher than the one found in the splenocytes. The analysis on bones showed a very quick deposition of Gd: as a matter of fact, the excretion rate is very low, in particular in the bone matrix, where most of Gd is retained.