Development of a novel lipidic nanoparticle probe using liposomal encapsulated Gd2O3-DEG for molecular MRI.

ABSTRACT

Recently, it has been showed that gadolinium oxide nanoparticles can provide high-contrast enhancement in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Moreover, liposomes due to high biocompatibility have shown unique model systems, with the most successful application being the drug delivery system. As a suitable cell-tracking contrast agent (CA) in molecular MRI (mMRI), the synthesis and optimisation characteristic of a novel paramagnetic liposomes (PMLs) based on gadolinium nanoparticles, essentially composed of a new complex of gadolinium oxide-diethylene glycol (Gd2O3-DEG) loaded in liposomes have been determined in this research. Gd2O3-DEG was prepared by a new supervised polyol method and was encapsulated with liposome by the film hydration method. The paramagnetic liposome nanoparticle (PMLN) sizes ranged from 65 to 170 nm. The r1 of PMLNs and Gd2O3-DEG were much higher than that of Gd-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid (Gd-DTPA). In MC/9 cell lines, the experiments showed similar results as in water. PMLNs with lower T1 than Gd-DTPA are sensitive, positive MRI CA that could be attractive candidates for cellular and molecular lipid content targets such as diagnostic applications.