Detection of Lymph Node Involvement in Hematologic Malignancies Using Micromagnetic Resonance Lymphangiography with a Gadolinum-Labeled

Animal models of lymphoma should reflect their coun-terparts in humans; however, it can be difficult to as-certain whether an induced disease is intralymphatic or extralymphatic based on direct visualization. Current imaging methods are insufficient for identifying lym-phatic and intralymphatic involvement. To differenti-ate intralymphatic fromextralymphatic involvement, we have developed a magnetic resonance imaging–based lymphangiography method and tested it on two animal models of lymphoma. A gadolinium (Gd)–labeled den-drimer nanoparticle (generation-6;f220 kDa/f10 nm) was injected interstitially into mice bearing hemato-logic malignancies to perform dynamic micromag-netic resonance lymphangiography (micro-MRL). Bot