Over the past few decades, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has proven to be extremely successful in medical applications. More recently, the biomedical applications of MRI have been gaining more use in the field of clinical pharmacy. In 1977, perfluorocarbon compounds (PFC), which form emulsions that can carry drugs, were analyzed by 19F MRI and emulsified PFC compounds have been investigated as potential blood substitutes since the early 1960s and now a wide variety of PFC compounds are currently available as 19F MRI biomarkers. Molecules with 19F substituents are particularly attractive for use in drug tracking by 19F MRI due to 100% 19F abundance, high 19F MRI sensitivity (0.83 relative to 1H MRI) and an impressively large chemical shift range (400 ppm). Another benefit in the use of 19F MRI is a zero background signal in biological samples due to lack of endogenous fluorine. Therefore, drugs containing fluorine atom have potential for 19F MRI imaging drug delivery to tissue. This article will review recent developments in the use of 19F MRI in imaging drug delivery to tissue and individual cells.
