Effects of Proteins from Culture Medium on Surface Property of Silanes- Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles

Monodisperse magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were synthesized by thermal decomposition of iron-oleate and functionalized with silanes bearing various functional groups such as amino group (NH2), short-chain poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), and carboxylic group (COOH). Then, silanes-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (silanes-MNPs) were incubated in cell culture medium plus fetal calf serum to investigate the effects of proteins from culture medium on surface property of MNPs. Zeta potential measurements showed that although surface charges of silanes-MNPs were different, they exhibited negative charges at neutral pH and approximate isoelectric points after they were incubated in cell culture medium. The reason was that silanes-MNPs could easily adsorb proteins from culture medium via non-covalent binding, resulting in the formation of protein-silanes-MNPs conjugates. Moreover, silanes-MNPs with various functional groups had different adsorption capacity to proteins, as confirmed by Coomassie blue fast staining method. The in vitro cell experiments showed that protein-silanes-MNPs had higher cellular uptake by cancer cells than silanes-MNPs

Low toxicity and long circulation time of Polyampholyte-coated magnetic nanoparticles for blood pool contrast agents

Polyampholyte-coated (poly(acrylic acid) (PAA)-co-3-(diethylamino)-propylamine (DEAPA)) magnetite nanoparticles (PAMNPs) have been prepared as contrasting agent used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Excellent biocompatibility is required for contrasting agents used in high-resolution magnetic resonance angiography. To evaluate the biocompatibility of PAMNPs, some experiments have been conducted. The hemolysis, plasma recalcification, dynamic blood clotting, prothrombin time, inflammatory cytokine release and complement system activation assays were carried out to investigate the hemocompatibility. To evaluate the toxicity to vessel, MTT test and vascular irritation tests were conducted. Tissue toxicity test was also performed to investigate the biocompability in vivo. We also looked into the biodistribution. The results showed that PAMNPs at the working concentration (0.138 mM) present similar hemocompatibility with negative control, thus have no significant effect to vessels. PAMNPs were mainly distributed in the liver and the blood. The circulation time in blood was considerably long, with the half-time of 3.77 h in plasma. This property is advantageous for PAMNPs' use in angiography. PAMNPs could be metabolized rapidly in mice and were not observed to cause any toxic or adverse effect. In short, these results suggest that the PAMNPs have great potential to serve as safe contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Real-time magnetic resonance imaging and quantification of lipoprotein metabolism in vivo using nanocrystals

Semiconductor quantum dots and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanocrystals have physical properties that are well suited for biomedical imaging. Previously, we have shown that iron oxide nanocrystals embedded within the lipid core of micelles show optimized characteristics for quantitative imaging. Here, we embed quantum dots and superparamagnetic iron oxide nanocrystals in the core of lipoproteins--micelles that transport lipids and other hydrophobic substances in the blood--and show that it is possible to image and quantify the kinetics of lipoprotein metabolism in vivo using fluorescence and dynamic magnetic resonance imaging. The lipoproteins were taken up by liver cells in wild-type mice and displayed defective clearance in knock-out mice lacking a lipoprotein receptor or its ligand, indicating that the nanocrystals did not influence the specificity of the metabolic process. Using this strategy it is possible to study the clearance of lipoproteins in metabolic disorders and to improve the contrast in clinical imaging