The objectives of this study were to describe the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle (
SPIO) stabilized with
alginate (
SPIO-
alginate), and investigate its potential in detecting
liver cancers as a newly developed magnetic resonance (MR)
contrast agent. Pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of
SPIO-
alginate were investigated in Sprague-Dawley rats. The results showed that
SPIO-
alginate was eliminated rapidly from serum with the half-life of 0.27 h at 109.5 micromol Fe/kg and accumulated dominantly in liver and spleen with a total percentage of more than 90% of dose after
intravenous injection. The studies of pharmacokinetics and distribution of
SPIO-
alginate in rats indicated the MR
contrast agent, based on
SPIO, mainly accumulating in targeting organs that contain phagocytosing cells, i.e. liver and spleen. The efficacies in detecting
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) of rat with primary
liver cancer and xenograft
liver cancers of rabbit were investigated before and after injection of
SPIO-
alginate. The signal intensity of liver parenchyma in rabbit with VX2
tumor after injection of
SPIO-
alginate was reduced sharply resulting in a significant contrast between liver parenchyma and
tumor. Detection of the HCC in rat model was also demonstrated. The present study provides evidence that
SPIO-
alginate might have the ability to improve the detection of liver
tumors as an MR
contrast agent, and the efficacy is associated with the
SPIO specifically located in Kupffer cells in hepatic sinusoid.