One-step synthesis of water-dispersible ultra-small Fe3O4 nanoparticles as contrast agents for T1 and T2 magnetic resonance imaging.
Uniform, highly water-dispersible and ultra-small Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized via a modified one-step coprecipitation approach. The prepared Fe3O4 nanoparticles not only show good magnetic properties, long-term stability in a biological environment, but also exhibit good biocompatibility in cell viability and hemolysis assay. Due to the ultra-small sized and highly water-dispersibility, they exhibit excellent relaxivity properties, the 1.7 nm sized Fe3O4 nanoparticles reveal a low r2/r1 ratio of 2.03 (r1 = 8.20 mM(-1) s(-1), r2 = 16.67 mM(-1) s(-1)); and the 2.2 nm sized Fe3O4 nanoparticles also appear to have a low r2/r1 ratio of 4.65 (r1 = 6.15 mM(-1) s(-1), r2 = 28.62 mM(-1) s(-1)). This demonstrates that the proposed ultra-small Fe3O4 nanoparticles have great potential as a new type of T1 magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents. Especially, the 2.2 nm sized Fe3O4 nanoparticles, have a competitive r1 value and r2 value compared to commercial contrasting agents such as Gd-DTPA (r1 = 4.8 mM(-1) s (-1)), and SHU-555C (r2 = 69 mM(-1) s(-1)). In vitro and in vivo imaging experiments, show that the 2.2 nm sized Fe3O4 nanoparticles exhibit great contrast enhancement, long-term circulation, and low toxicity, which enable these ultra-small sized Fe3O4 nanoparticles to be promising as T1 and T2 dual contrast agents in clinical settings.
Department of Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, 121001, China.
Guannan
G
Wang
Xuanjun
X
Zhang
Andreas
A
Skallberg
Yaxu
Y
Liu
Zhangjun
Z
Hu
Xifan
X
Mei
Kajsa
K
Uvdal
D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D052203:Ferrosoferric Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA / Q000737:chemistry; D006461:Hemolysis / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D010316:Particle Size; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
D003287:Contrast Media; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; D014867:Water; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D052203:Ferrosoferric Oxide