Silica-coated iron-oxide nanoparticles doped with Gd(III) complexes as potential double contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging at different field strengths

• Published in: Journal of chemical sciences (Bangalore, India) India), 2018-09, Vol.130 (9), p.1-10, Article 125
• Main Authors: Stepanov, Alexey, Fedorenko, Svetlana, Amirov, Rustem, Nizameev, Irek, Kholin, Kirill, Voloshina, Alexandra, Sapunova, Anastasiya, Mendes, Rafael, Rümmeli, Mark, Gemming, Thomas, Mustafina, Asiya, Odintsov, Boris
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chemistry/Food Science; Contrast agents; Gadolinium; Iron; Magnetic fields; Magnetic resonance imaging; Morphology; Nanoparticles; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Regular Article; Silicon dioxide; Toxicity
• ISSN: 0974-3626; 0973-7103
• DOI: 10.1007/s12039-018-1527-z

In the present work, we have prepared the ∼ 10 nm superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles by means of high-temperature decomposition of iron oleate precursor. Then they were coated with silica shell to impart water-solubility and an ability to accommodate paramagnetic Gd(III)-based complexes inside silica coating. All of the prepared nanoparticles form stable in time aqueous dispersions and show good negative or/and positive contrasting effect at different magnetic field strengths (0.47, 1.41, 14.1 T). It has been also exemplified that the incorporation of [Gd(TCAS)] complexes into silica shell triggers a significant increase of the transverse relaxivity of the core–shell nanoparticles. The correlation between relaxometric properties and morphology of the obtained nanoparticles was revealed. The non-toxicity of the obtained nanoparticles along with their ability to shorten both transverse and longitudinal relaxation rates of water protons make them good candidates for their use as dual-mode contrast agents in MRI. Graphical Abstract