University of Tehran Journal of Sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran 1016-1104 32 1 2021 03 01 The Potential of 5-aminolevulinic Acid as a Contrast Agent in MR Imaging: Challenges and Opportunities 15 28 79107 10.22059/jsciences.2020.310908.1007575 EN Anita Ebrahimpour Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Nader Riahi Alam Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Mehdi Khoobi The Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (TIPS), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Journal Article 2020 09 28 Nowadays, 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) plays an influential role in the detection of malignant tumors as a photodynamic diagnosis tool. Nevertheless, an outlook regarding 5-ALA applicability in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has recently emerged. Many studies confirmed the impact of 5-ALA on promoting intracellular Heme synthesis and iron metabolism, which support the capability of 5-ALA in MRI owing to the susceptibility effect of iron. Therefore, concerning the high safety and high affinity of 5-ALA to tumor cells, 5-ALA-based MRI could be an intriguing method for malignant foci identification. https://jsciences.ut.ac.ir/article_79107_434a4042fe68f5c5c5f563c6b1007130.pdf