Gadolinium-Coated Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle for Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Abstract

Magnetic resonance molecular imaging can provide anatomic, functional and molecular information. However, because of the intrinsically low sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), high-performance MRI contrast agents are required to generate powerful image information for image diagnosis. Herein, we describe a novel T1 contrast agent with magnetic-imaging properties facilitated by the gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) doping of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN). The size, morphology, composition, MRI relaxivity (r1), surface area and pore size of these nanoparticles were evaluated following their conjugation with Gd2O3 to produce Gd2O3@MSN. This unique structure led to a significant enhancement in T1 contrast with longitudinal relaxivity (r1) as high as 51.85 ± 1.38 mM−1s−1. Gd2O3@MSN has a larger T1 relaxivity than commercial gadolinium diethylene triamine pentaacetate (Gd-DTPA), likely due to the geometrical confinement effect of silica nanoparticles. These results suggest that we could successfully prepare a novel high-performance T1 contrast agent, which may be a potential candidate for in-vivo MRI.

Click functionalized biocompatible gadolinium oxide core-shell nanocarriers for imaging of breast cancer cells

“…12,13 Also doping the gadolinium oxide particles with mesoporous silica enhanced T1 contrast of gadolinium due to silica geometrical connement. [14][15][16] Recent studies have revealed that the conjugation of Gd 3+ complexes with iron oxide NPs, and the combination of Gd 2 O 3 NPs with other magnetic materials, such as Fe 3 O 4 NPs into single composite particles leads to the enhancement of T1 and T2 contrast in MRI. In case of a thin gadolinium shell, nanocomposites provided higher relativity than a thick shell during MRI examinations.…”

pH-Responsive Drug Delivery and Imaging Study of Hybrid Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles

“…The MSNs (Gd 2 O 3 @MSN) were prepared in accordance with our previous research [ 57 ]. In brief, a mixture of NaOH (140 mg) and CTAB (500 mg) in ddH 2 O (220 mL) was stirred at 80 ℃ for 1 h. Subsequently, the TEOS (1.5 mL) was added dropwise to the above mixture through appropriate stirring (250 rpm).…”

Recent Metal Nanotheranostics for Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy: A Review

“…Eriksson et al [61] used a survey to improve T 1 -weighted image contrast at the lower dose of Gd ions in cerium oxide NPs as a T 1 -weighted MRI contrast agent and achieved positive results. It has been demonstrated that a high T 1 relaxivity of Gd oxide (Gd 2 O 3 ) conjugated with mesoporous silica NPs (Gd 2 O 3 @MSNPs) in comparison with Gd diethylene triamine pentaacetate (Gd-DTPA) results in in-vivo use of Gd 2 O 3 @MSNPs as a T 1 -weighted MR image contrast agent [62]. In an investigation into the clinical use of ultrasmall GdNPs (Gd@PEG NPs), Wang et al [63] found that monodispersible ultrasmall GdNPs can be used for diagnosis of kidney dysfunction through the in-vivo T 1 -weighted MR imaging.…”