An electric-field-responsive paramagnetic contrast agent enhances the visualization of epileptic foci in mouse models of drug-resistant epilepsy

For patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy, excision of the epileptogenic zone is the most effective treatment approach. However, the surgery is less effective in the 15–30% of patients whose lesions are not distinct when visualized by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Here, we show that an intravenously administered MRI contrast agent consisting of a paramagnetic polymer coating encapsulating a superparamagnetic cluster of ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide crosses the blood–brain barrier and improves lesion visualization with high sensitivity and target-to-background ratio. In kainic-acid-induced mouse models of drug-resistant focal epilepsy, electric-field changes in the brain associated with seizures trigger breakdown of the contrast agent, restoring the T1-weighted magnetic resonance signal, which otherwise remains quenched due to the distance-dependent magnetic resonance tuning effect between the cluster and the coating. The electric-field-responsive contrast agent may increase the probability of detecting seizure foci in patients and facilitate the study of brain diseases associated with epilepsy. An intravenously administered electric-field-sensitive contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging that crosses the blood–brain barrier improves lesion visualization with high sensitivity and target-to-background ratio in mice.