A new macromolecular biocompatible gadolinium chelate complex (PAI-N-2-DOTA-Gd) as a liver-specific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent was synthesised and evaluated. An aspartic acid-isoleucine copolymer was chemically linked with Gd-DOTA via ethylenediamine to give PAI-N-2-DOTA-Gd. In vitro, the T-1-relaxivity of PAI-N-2-DOTA-Gd (14.38mmol(-1)Ls(-1), 0.5 T) was much higher than that of the clinically used Gd-DOTA (4.96mmol(-1)Ls(-1), 0.5 T), with obvious imaging signal enhancement. In the imaging experiments in vivo, PAI-N-2-DOTA-Gd exhibited good liver selectivity, and had a greater intensity enhancement (68.8 +/- 5.6%) and a longer imaging window time (30-70min), compared to Gd-DOTA (21.1 +/- 5.3%, 10-30min). Furthermore, the in vivo histological studies of PAI-N-2-DOTA-Gd showed a low acute toxicity and desirable biocompatibility. The results of this study indicate that PAI-N-2-DOTA-Gd is a feasible liver-specific contrast agent for MRI.