Dendrimersomes: a new vesicular nano-platform for MR-molecular imaging applications

Abstract

A new class of nanovesicles formed by the self-assembly of amphiphilic Janus dendrimers, dendrimersomes, loaded with hydrophilic or amphiphilic magnetic resonance imaging chelates shows promising properties as a novel, efficient and versatile nanoplatform for biomedical imaging.

Novel stable dendrimersome formulation for safe bioimaging applications

“…26 This result confirms that the membranes of these new dendrimersomes maintain a high water permeability, thus preventing the decrease of r 1 typically observed for the clinical-like formulations of liposomes. 27 …”

“…We have recently proposed the use of paramagnetic nanovesicles formed by the self-assembling of Janus dendrimers as novel nanosized MRI contrast agents. 26 As for other nanovesicular systems, 34 also in dendrimersomes the paramagnetic contrast agent can be embedded in the membrane, entrapped in the aqueous core, or covalently attached to the membrane components giving rise to different relaxivity enhancements depending on the location of the MRI probe in the nanoparticle. 26 We also found that the dendrimeric bilayer is highly permeable to water, 26 thus allowing us to obtain higher relaxivities and improving the MRI detection of the nanoparticles.…”

“…1) can be loaded with both fluorescent and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents, thus potentially acting as a novel nanosized platform for molecular imaging applications. 26 Intriguingly, the encapsulation of the clinically approved MRI agent Gadoteridol ( Fig. 1 clinically used liposomes.…”

GdDOTAGA(C18)2: an efficient amphiphilic Gd(iii) chelate for the preparation of self-assembled high relaxivity MRI nanoprobes

“…With the aim of combining the excellent incorporation stability of GdDOTAMA(C 18 ) 2 into bilayered nanovesicles (liposomes, polymersomes, dendrimersomes) 7,22 with the high relaxivity offered by the tetra-carboxylic cage of GdDOTA(GAC 12 ) 2 , we synthesized the new amphiphilic chelate GdDOTAGA(C 18 ) 2 (Scheme 1). The motivation of this study was to investigate, either in vitro or in vivo, the imaging performance of nanovesicles (liposomes and dendrimersomes) loaded with GdDOTAGA(C 18 ) 2 , and make a comparison with the corresponding nanoparticles embedded with GdDOTAMA(C 18 ) 2 .…”

“…1,2 The versatility of nanosystems allows tuneable surface modification and loading with different chemicals (drugs, imaging agents, targeting vectors) with the aim of fine-optimizing the biological properties of the nanocarriers, while simultaneously enabling them to perform diagnostically and/or therapeutically important functions. 3,4 Lipid-containing nanoparticles (LNPs), 5 like micelles, liposomes, and solid lipid nanoparticles, or other similar nanosystems (such as the recently developed dendrimersomes) [6][7][8] are based on supramolecular aggregates obtained by spontaneous assembling in aqueous solution of phospholipids alone or in mixture with other amphiphilic molecules. Such objects have been frequently used as nanocarriers for drug delivery and imaging applications due to their great chemical versatility that allows the loading of hydrophobic, amphiphilic, and hydrophilic substances, and surface decoration with targeting vectors, blood lifetime modulators, and diagnostic agents.…”