Issue 39, 2021

Functionalized silica nanoplatform as a bimodal contrast agent for MRI and optical imaging

Abstract

The preparation of an efficient bimodal single probe for magnetic resonance (MRI) and optical imaging (OI) is reported. Paramagnetic properties have been obtained by the non-covalent encapsulation of the clinically used Gd3+ chelate (i.e., Gd-HP-DO3A) within silica nanoparticles through a water-in-oil microemulsion process. To ensure colloidal stability, the surface of the particles was modified by means of treatment using PEG-silane, and further functionalized photochemically using a diazirine linker bearing carboxylic functions. Optical properties were obtained by the covalent grafting of a near-infrared emitting probe (NIR) on the resulting surface. The confinement of Gd complexes within the permeable matrix resulted in a significant increase in longitudinal relaxivities (>500% at 20 MHz) in comparison with the relaxivities of free chelate, while the post-functionalization process of PEG with fluorescent compounds appeared promising for the derivatization procedure. Several physico-chemical properties attested to the efficient surface modification and confirmed covalent grafting. Preliminary imaging experiments complete this study and confirm the potential of the presented system for preclinical imaging experiments.

Graphical abstract: Functionalized silica nanoplatform as a bimodal contrast agent for MRI and optical imaging

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Jūl. 2021
Accepted
19 Sept. 2021
First published
20 Sept. 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale, 2021,13, 16509-16524

Functionalized silica nanoplatform as a bimodal contrast agent for MRI and optical imaging

S. Garifo, D. Stanicki, S. Boutry, L. Larbanoix, I. Ternad, R. N. Muller and S. Laurent, Nanoscale, 2021, 13, 16509 DOI: 10.1039/D1NR04972K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements