Fabricating Water Dispersible Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications through Ligand Exchange and Direct Conjugation.
Stable superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs), which can be easily dispersed in an aqueous medium and exhibit high magnetic relaxivities, are ideal candidates for biomedical applications including contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging. We describe a versatile methodology to render water dispersibility to SPIONs using tetraethylene glycol (TEG)-based phosphonate ligands, which are easily introduced onto SPIONs by either a ligand exchange process of surface-anchored oleic-acid (OA) molecules or via direct conjugation. Both protocols confer good colloidal stability to SPIONs at different NaCl concentrations. A detailed characterization of functionalized SPIONs suggests that the ligand exchange method leads to nanoparticles with better magnetic properties but higher toxicity and cell death, than the direct conjugation methodology.
Department of Chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 0B8, Canada. tina.lam@mail.mcgill.ca.
Tina
T
Lam
Department of Chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 0B8, Canada. pramod.avti@gmail.com.|Department of Electrical Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, C.P. 6079 succ. Centre-ville, Montreal, QC H3C 3A7, Canada. pramod.avti@gmail.com.|Research Center, Montreal Heart Institute, 5000 Bélanger Street, Montreal, QC H1T 1C8, Canada. pramod.avti@gmail.com.
Pramod K
PK
Avti
Department of Electrical Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, C.P. 6079 succ. Centre-ville, Montreal, QC H3C 3A7, Canada. ph.pouliot@gmail.com.|Research Center, Montreal Heart Institute, 5000 Bélanger Street, Montreal, QC H1T 1C8, Canada. ph.pouliot@gmail.com.
Philippe
P
Pouliot
Research Center, Montreal Heart Institute, 5000 Bélanger Street, Montreal, QC H1T 1C8, Canada. maafi.foued@gmail.com.
Foued
F
Maafi
Research Center, Montreal Heart Institute, 5000 Bélanger Street, Montreal, QC H1T 1C8, Canada. jean-claude.tardif@icm-mhi.org.|Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada. jean-claude.tardif@icm-mhi.org.
Jean-Claude
JC
Tardif
Research Center, Montreal Heart Institute, 5000 Bélanger Street, Montreal, QC H1T 1C8, Canada. eric.rheaume@icm-mhi.org.|Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada. eric.rheaume@icm-mhi.org.
Éric
É
Rhéaume
Department of Electrical Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, C.P. 6079 succ. Centre-ville, Montreal, QC H3C 3A7, Canada. frederic.lesage@polymtl.ca.|Research Center, Montreal Heart Institute, 5000 Bélanger Street, Montreal, QC H1T 1C8, Canada. frederic.lesage@polymtl.ca.
Frédéric
F
Lesage
Department of Chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC H3A 0B8, Canada. ashok.kakkar@mcgill.ca.
Ashok
A
Kakkar
cell internalization; contrast agents; magnetic resonance imaging; nanoparticle ligand functionalization; superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles