Synthesis, characterization, in vitro and in vivo studies of dextrin-coated zinc-iron ferrite nanoparticles (Zn0.5Fe0.5Fe2O4) as contrast agent in MRI

Abstract

Iron oxide nanoparticles, such as ferrites, offer some attractive possibilities in biomedicine, especially in MRI applications. The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of dextrin-coated zinc-iron ferrite nanoparticles (IFNPs) as an MRI contrast agent in in vivo and in vitro media. IFNPs were synthesized by an aqueous precipitation method in the presence of dextrin. An agarose phantom with different concentrations of dextrin-coated IFNPs was performed on a 1.5-T MRI. For in vivo MRI studies, implanted melanoma tumors in mice were immediately scanned after intra-tumoral injection of dextrincoated IFNPs. Microscopic studies showed that the average diameter of dextrin-coated IFNPs was 12 ± 2.4 nm and the saturation magnetization for IFNPs was 31.5 emu g -1 ; r 1 and r 2 relaxivities of these ultrasmall superparamagnetic IFNPs in agarose phantom were obtained as 0.99 and 17.4 mmol L -1 s -1 , respectively. The relaxivity measurements revealed that the dextrin-coated IFNPs can serve as a negative contrast agent. In vivo MRI showed that the dextrin-coated IFNPs can be used for tumor detection. The dextrin-coated IFNPs were suggested to be applied for lymph node and targeted imaging.