Hiding magnets in blood brings scans into focus

SURGEONS about to perform delicate operations on the heart or major blood vessels need the clearest pictures they can get. Magnetic nanoparticles injected into the bloodstream will help reveal fine details on MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans – but there’s a snag. The particles quickly accumulate in the liver, which then removes them from the body.

Now Mauro Magnani of the University of Urbino in Italy and his team have found a way to get the tiny particles to spend longer in the bloodstream, by hiding them inside living red blood cells.…