Fe3O4@Angelica sinensis polysaccharide nanoparticles as an ultralow-toxicity contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

Although iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles have broad application prospects as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent, their biocompatibility and biotoxicity still need to be improved. In this study, we prepared Fe3O4@Angelica sinensis polysaccharide nanoparticles (Fe3O4@ASP NPs) with a 9 nm Fe3O4 core and ASP as the coating material. The Fe3O4@ASP NPs are superparamagnetic, can be taken up by liver and spleen macrophages in the circulatory system in vivo, and are a good-biocompatibility and low-toxicity transverse relaxation time (T2) and T2-star (T2*) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent for the liver. The cytotoxicity assessment using HeLa cells and the pathological tests in mice validate that Fe3O4@ASP NPs have low toxicity and good biocompatibility in vivo, which can be attributed to the ASP as a natural polysaccharide with good biocompatibility and its function of protecting the liver. Fe3O4@ASP NPs are a potential new MRI contrast agent with high signal intensity in vivo.