Gadolinium Retention in the Rat Brain: Assessment of the Amounts of Insoluble Gadolinium-containing Species and Intact Gadolinium Complexes after Repeated Administration of Gadolinium-based Contrast Agents.

Purpose To evaluate the speciation of gadolinium-containing species after multiple administrations of the gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) gadodiamide and gadoteridol and to quantify the amount of intact gadolinium complexes and insoluble gadolinium-containing species. Materials and Methods A total dose of 13.2 mmol per kilogram of body weight of each GBCA was administered in healthy Wistar rats over a period of 8 weeks. Three days after the final administration, rats were sacrificed, and the brains were excised and divided into three portions. Each portion of brain homogenate was divided into two parts, one for determination of the total gadolinium concentration with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and one for determination of the amount of intact GBCA and gadolinium-containing insoluble species. Relaxometric measurements of gadodiamide and gadolinium trichloride in the presence of polysialic acid were also performed. Results The mean total gadolinium concentrations for gadodiamide and gadoteridol, respectively, were 0.317 µg/g ± 0.060 (standard deviation) and 0.048 µg/g ± 0.004 in the cortex, 0.418 µg/g ± 0.078 and 0.051 µg/g ± 0.009 in the subcortical brain, and 0.781 µg/g ± 0.079 and 0.061 µg/g ± 0.012 in the cerebellum. Gadoteridol comprised 100% of the gadolinium species found in rats treated with gadoteridol. In rats treated with gadodiamide, the largest part of gadolinium retained in brain tissue was insoluble species. In the cerebellum, the amount of intact gadodiamide accounts for 18.2% ± 10.6 of the total gadolinium found therein. The mass balance found for gadolinium implies the occurrence of other soluble gadolinium-containing species (approximately 30%). The relaxivity of the gadolinium polysialic acid species formed in vitro was 97.8 mM/sec at 1.5 T and 298 K. Conclusion Gadoteridol was far less retained, and the entire detected gadolinium was intact soluble GBCA, while gadodiamide yielded both soluble and insoluble gadolinium-containing species, with insoluble species dominating. © RSNA, 2017 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Gd accumulation in tissues of healthy mice upon repeated administrations of Gadodiamide and Gadoteridol.

The aim of this work was to investigate, by five different administration protocols, the impact of the dosage, the time passed after the last injection and the frequency of injections, on accumulation and distribution of Gd-containing species in the body tissues of healthy mice upon repeated injections of Gadolinium Based Contrast Agents (GBCAs). Gadodiamide and Gadoteridol have been compared. The amount of Gd retained in several tissues/organs (cerebrum, cerebellum, spleen, liver, kidneys, eyes, skin, bone and muscle) has been assessed by ICP-MS upon administration of the GBCAs i) at three weeks or three months after the last administration, ii) when one, three or twelve doses of GBCA were administered and iii) when administrations were made every two weeks. Gd was found in all tissues after the administration of Gadodiamide. Conversely, in the case of Gadoteridol, Gd was detected only in spleen, kidneys, liver and bone. The amounts of Gd found in spleen, liver and kidneys markedly decrease upon increasing the time that has passed after the last administration, whereas, in the case of Gadodiamide, the decrease of Gd found in bone, cerebrum and cerebellum appears to occur at a much slower rate. Overall, areas of long term deposition appear to be bone and spleen for both GBCAs. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that intravenous multiple administrations of GBCAs is associated with extensive multiorgan retention which is reduced but not eliminated by the use of the macrocyclic Gadoteridol as well as by adopting reduced and/or less frequent dosing.