Bypassing Heteronuclear MRI: Metal‐Free Organosilicon Nanotracers for Background‐Free Hotspot 1H Imaging on Clinical Hardware
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Czech Republic
- 2Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine Prague Czech Republic
- 3Institute of Biophysics and Informatics First Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Czech Republic
- 4BIOCEV First Faculty of Medicine Charles University Vestec Czech Republic
- 5Faculty of Health Studies Technical University of Liberec Liberec Czech Republic
Abstract
Current magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lacks contrast agents that provide background‐free hotspot visualization while remaining compatible with standard clinical hardware and avoiding metal‐associated toxicity. Herein, we introduce a new class of metal‐free, organosilicon‐based 1H MRI hotspot tracers that are directly compatible with conventional experimental and clinical MRI systems. These tracers exploit the distinct chemical shift of silicon‐shielded hydrogens (∼0 ppm) spectrally resolved from the biological 1H background. Through architectural screening, we identified an optimized block copolymer micelle, denoted as Silicone‐Generated Hotspot Tracer (SiGHT), comprising polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) core and a hydrophilic shell. SiGHT exhibits excellent chemical and colloidal stability and enables sensitive, background‐free 1H chemical shift imaging at low concentrations (< 0.5 mg mL−1), while being non‐cytotoxic and well tolerated in vivo. The diagnostic potential of the developed probe has been demonstrated by successful 1H MR hotspot visualization of tracer accumulation in 4T1 mouse tumors following intravenous administration. Importantly, we demonstrate robust tracer detection on both preclinical 7T and clinical 3T MRI scanners using standard 1H MR sequences and commercial coils, underscoring its translational potential. Together, these results establish organosilicon micelles as clinically relevant, metal‐free 1H MR hotspot tracers, opening an unexplored pathway to accessible, high‐sensitivity molecular imaging on existing MRI infrastructure.
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BibTeX
@article{orsagh2026bypassing,
title = {{Bypassing Heteronuclear MRI: Metal‐Free Organosilicon Nanotracers for Background‐Free Hotspot 1H Imaging on Clinical Hardware}},
author = {Martin Orsagh and Dominik Havlicek and Andrea Galisova and Ondrej Sedlacek and Daniel Jirak},
journal = {Advanced Science},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1002/advs.77010},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.77010},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Bypassing Heteronuclear MRI: Metal‐Free Organosilicon Nanotracers for Background‐Free Hotspot 1H Imaging on Clinical Hardware
AU - Martin Orsagh
AU - Dominik Havlicek
AU - Andrea Galisova
AU - Ondrej Sedlacek
AU - Daniel Jirak
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/06
JO - Advanced Science
DO - 10.1002/advs.77010
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.77010
AB - Current magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lacks contrast agents that provide background‐free hotspot visualization while remaining compatible with standard clinical hardware and avoiding metal‐associated toxicity. Herein, we introduce a new class of metal‐free, organosilicon‐based 1H MRI hotspot tracers that are directly compatible with conventional experimental and clinical MRI systems. These tracers exploit the distinct chemical shift of silicon‐shielded hydrogens (∼0 ppm) spectrally resolved from the biological 1H background. Through architectural screening, we identified an optimized block copolymer micelle, denoted as Silicone‐Generated Hotspot Tracer (SiGHT), comprising polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) core and a hydrophilic shell. SiGHT exhibits excellent chemical and colloidal stability and enables sensitive, background‐free 1H chemical shift imaging at low concentrations (< 0.5 mg mL−1), while being non‐cytotoxic and well tolerated in vivo. The diagnostic potential of the developed probe has been demonstrated by successful 1H MR hotspot visualization of tracer accumulation in 4T1 mouse tumors following intravenous administration. Importantly, we demonstrate robust tracer detection on both preclinical 7T and clinical 3T MRI scanners using standard 1H MR sequences and commercial coils, underscoring its translational potential. Together, these results establish organosilicon micelles as clinically relevant, metal‐free 1H MR hotspot tracers, opening an unexplored pathway to accessible, high‐sensitivity molecular imaging on existing MRI infrastructure.
SN - 2198-3844
ER -