Immobilization of radionuclides on poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanofibrous membranes

Abstract

In this work, electrospun poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) fibrous membranes were functionalized with radionuclides by surface modification. After the introduction of chitosan and bifunctional ligands (DTPA) on soft hydrolyzed PLGA nanofibrous membranes, more than 80% of the radionuclides (⁹⁰Y) in aqueous solutions were attached as labels to the target nanofibers. To get a high chelating efficiency without changing the physical properties of the membranes, the hydrolysis conditions, the reactive media for the introduction of DTPA, and the chelating time were thoroughly investigated. These radionuclide labelled PLGA fibrous membranes have similar mechanical properties as human tissues. ⁹⁰Y on PLGA nanofibers shows a desirable stability of more than four half-lives.