Uniform Fe3O4/Gd2O3-DHCA nanocubes for dual-mode magnetic resonance imaging.

Miao Qin,Yueyou Peng,Yanfeng Meng,Yizhu Cheng,Hui Yan,Di Huang,Xiumei Zhang,Mengjie Xu,Weiyi Chen

doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.84

Abstract

The multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique has been extensively studied over the past few years since it offers complementary information that can increase diagnostic accuracy. Simple methods to synthesize contrast agents are necessary for the development of multimodal MRI. Herein, uniformly distributed Fe3O4/Gd2O3 nanocubes for T1–T2 dual-mode MRI contrast agents were successfully designed and synthesized. In order to increase hydrophilicity and biocompatibility, the nanocubes were coated with nontoxic 3,4-dihydroxyhydrocinnamic acid (DHCA). The results show that iron (Fe) and gadolinium (Gd) were homogeneously distributed throughout the Fe3O4/Gd2O3-DHCA (FGDA) nanocubes. Relaxation time analysis was performed on the images obtained from the 3.0 T scanner. The results demonstrated that r1 and r2 maximum values were 67.57 ± 6.2 and 24.2 ± 1.46 mM−1·s−1, respectively. In vivo T1- and T2-weighted images showed that FGDA nanocubes act as a dual-mode contrast agent enhancing MRI quality. Overall, these experimental results suggest that the FGDA nanocubes are interesting tools that can be used to increase MRI quality, enabling accurate clinical diagnostics.

Highlights

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive technique that has been broadly used in the clinical field to assist in disease diagnostics due to its high spatial resolution and capability to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy soft tissues [1,2,3,4,5]
During the first steps of the reaction, Fe3O4/Gd2O3-oleic acid (FGOA) nanocubes were produced by the thermal decomposition of the metal oleate mixtures
The change in size might have happened due to changes in the surface when the FGOA nanocubes were converted into FGDA nanocubes

Summary

Introduction

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive technique that has been broadly used in the clinical field to assist in disease diagnostics due to its high spatial resolution and capability to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy soft tissues [1,2,3,4,5]. Zhou et al [23] demonstrated that uniformly distributed Gd-embedded Fe3O4 nanoparticles significantly enhance the MRI quality since they are T1–T2 dual-mode contrast agents. During the first steps of the reaction, Fe3O4/Gd2O3-oleic acid (FGOA) nanocubes were produced by the thermal decomposition of the metal oleate mixtures.

Results

Conclusion