Fabrication of hollow particles composed of silica containing gadolinium compound and magnetic resonance imaging using them

• Published in: Journal of nanostructure in chemistry 2013-12, Vol.3 (1), p.1-6, Article 11
• Main Authors: Kobayashi, Yoshio, Morimoto, Hikaru, Nakagawa, Tomohiko, Kubota, Yohsuke, Gonda, Kohsuke, Ohuchi, Noriaki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Colloids; Computer Applications in Chemistry; Ethyl alcohol; Gadolinium compounds; Inorganic Chemistry; Nanochemistry; Nanoparticles; Organic Chemistry; Original; Physical Chemistry; Polymer Sciences; Precipitation; Silicon dioxide; Solvents; Ureas
• ISSN: 2008-9244; 2193-8865
• DOI: 10.1186/2193-8865-3-11

A preparation method for hollow particles composed of silica shell containing gadolinium compound (GdC) is proposed. GdC nanoparticles with an average size of 40.5 ± 6.2 nm were prepared with a homogeneous precipitation method at 80°C using 1.0 × 10 −3  M Gd(NO 3 ) 3 and 0.5 M urea in the presence of 2.0 × 10 −4  M ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt dihydrate. Silica-coated GdC (GdC/SiO 2 ) nanoparticles with an average size of 100.9 ± 9.9 nm were fabricated with a sol-gel method at 35°C using 5.0 × 10 −3  M tetraethylorthosilicate, 11 M H 2 O, and 1.5 × 10 −3  M NaOH in ethanol in the presence of 1.0 × 10 −3  M GdC nanoparticles. The GdC/SiO 2 particles were aged at 80°C in water after replacement of solvent of the as-prepared GdC/SiO 2 particle colloid solution with water, which provided diffusion of GdC into the silica shell and then formation of a hollow structure. The hollow particle colloid solution revealed good MRI properties. A relaxivity value for longitudinal relaxation time-weighted imaging was as high as 3.38 mM −1  · s −1 that attained 80% of that for a commercial Gd complex contrast agent.