Albumin-Mediated Biomineralization of Paramagnetic NIR Ag2S QDs for Tiny Tumor Bimodal Targeted Imaging in Vivo.
Bimodal imaging has captured increasing interests due to its complementary characteristics of two kinds of imaging modalities. Among the various dual-modal imaging techniques, MR/fluorescence imaging has been widely studied owing to its high 3D resolution and sensitivity. There is, however, still a strong demand to construct biocompatible MR/fluorescence contrast agents with near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent emissions and high relaxivities. In this study, BSA-DTPA(Gd) derived from bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a novel kind of biotemplate is employed for biomineralization of paramagnetic NIR Ag2S quantum dots (denoted as Ag2S@BSA-DTPA(Gd) pQDs). This synthetic strategy is found to be bioinspired, environmentally benign, and straightforward. The obtained Ag2S@BSA-DTPA(Gd) pQDs have fine sizes (ca. 6 nm) and good colloidal stability. They exhibit unabated NIR fluorescent emission (ca. 790 nm) as well as high longitudinal relaxivity (r1 = 12.6 mM(-1) s(-1)) compared to that of commercial Magnevist (r1 = 3.13 mM(-1) s(-1)). In vivo tumor-bearing MR and fluorescence imaging both demonstrate that Ag2S@BSA-DTPA(Gd) pQDs have pronounced tiny tumor targeting capability. In vitro and in vivo toxicity study show Ag2S@BSA-DTPA(Gd) pQDs are biocompatible. Also, biodistribution analysis indicates they can be cleared from body mainly via liver metabolism. This protein-mediated biomineralized Ag2S@BSA-DTPA(Gd) pQDs presents great potential as a novel bimodal imaging contrast agent for tiny tumor diagnosis.
Imaging Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University , Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215006, China.
Jing
J
Zhang
Imaging Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University , Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215006, China.
Guangyu
G
Hao
Imaging Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University , Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215006, China.
Chenfei
C
Yao
Institute of Photomedicine, Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital; The Institute for Biomedical Engineering & Nano Science, Tongji University School of Medicine , Shanghai 200443, China.
Jiani
J
Yu
Institute of Photomedicine, Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital; The Institute for Biomedical Engineering & Nano Science, Tongji University School of Medicine , Shanghai 200443, China.
Jun
J
Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Life Science, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin University , Tianjin 300072, China.
Weitao
W
Yang
Imaging Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University , Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215006, China.
Chunhong
C
Hu
Institute of Photomedicine, Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital; The Institute for Biomedical Engineering & Nano Science, Tongji University School of Medicine , Shanghai 200443, China.
Bingbo
B
Zhang
D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D051379:Mice; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D045663:Quantum Dots / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000737:chemistry*; D014018:Tissue Distribution
D003287:Contrast Media; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine
biomineralization; bovine serum albumin; fluorescence imaging; magnetic resonance imaging; silver sulfide