Abstract
Biocompatible superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) through smart chemical functionalization of their surface with fluorescent species, therapeutic proteins, antibiotics, and aptamers offer remarkable potential for diagnosis and therapy of disease sites at their initial stage of growth. Such NPs can be obtained by the creation of proper linkers between magnetic NP and fluorescent or drug probes. One of these linkers is gold, because it is chemically stable, nontoxic and capable to link various biomolecules. In this study, we present a way for a simple and reliable decoration the surface of magnetic NPs with gold quantum dots (QDs) containing more than 13.5% of Au+. Emphasis is put on the synthesis of magnetic NPs by co-precipitation using the amino acid methionine as NP growth-stabilizing agent capable to later reduce and attach gold species. The surface of these NPs can be further conjugated with targeting and chemotherapy agents, such as cancer stem cell-related antibodies and the anticancer drug doxorubicin, for early detection and improved treatment. In order to verify our findings, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), FTIR spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of as-formed CoFe2O4 NPs before and after decoration with gold QDs were applied.
Highlights
In current nanomedicine, biocompatible iron oxide-based NPs have attracted particular interest due to their size-dependent magnetic, optical and chemical properties that allow for the design of NPs for multimodal imaging and photothermal therapy of cancer cells [1]
We report a novel synthesis protocol for superparamagnetic cobalt ferrite NPs capped with a biocompatible methionine shell (CoFe2O4@Met), which in turn is capable to reduce and attach the gold species
More precise results were obtained by the determination of the size of gold species that were removed from the NP surface by the ultrasonic agitation of 10 mg CoFe2O4@Met/Au NPs probe in 10 mmol·L−1 methionine solution
Summary
Biocompatible iron oxide-based NPs have attracted particular interest due to their size-dependent magnetic, optical and chemical properties that allow for the design of NPs for multimodal imaging and photothermal therapy of cancer cells [1]. We report a novel synthesis protocol for superparamagnetic cobalt ferrite NPs capped with a biocompatible methionine shell (CoFe2O4@Met), which in turn is capable to reduce and attach the gold species.
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