Perfluorinated Organic Liquids and Emulsions as Biocompatible NMR Imaging Agents for 19F and Dissolved Oxygen

Abstract
Emulsions of fluorocarbons are finding considerable use in biology for intravascular oxygen transport. Their wide clinical application seems inminent (1). Because of their high content of the natural isotope of fluorine (19F), such emulsions will prove valuable in imaging the vascular and reticuloendothelial system by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). New, in addition, we have found that the paramagnetic effect of dissolved oxygen decreases the spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) of 19F in fluorocarbons and other highly fluorinated compounds, such as anesthetic agents, such that the imaging of oxygen in solution is possible.