Empirical and Theoretical Characterization of the Diffusion Process of Different Gadolinium-Based Nanoparticles within the Brain Tissue after Ultrasound-Induced Permeabilization of the Blood-Brain Barrier

Figure 3

In vitro diffusion of MultiHance. (a) Concentration maps acquired during 1 hour after the injection of 200 μL of the 5 mM contrast agent in a phantom made of 0.3% w/w agarose gel. The time reported above each CA map refers to the time elapsed since the CA injection. (b) Concentration maps obtained by fitting the maps shown in (a) through equation (2), for each time point. (c) Shows a profile of the [CA] values (black dots), in the central rows on (a) and their corresponding fit (red line) from (b). These curves are shown for each time point. In (d), the trends of the square values of the Gaussian widths are shown as a function of the diffusion time. In green and orange are pictured the experimental data and the linear fits for and , respectively.

(a)

(b)

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(d)