CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
ACS Comb Sci. 2012 Aug 13;14(8):443-50. doi: 10.1021/co300035q. Epub 2012 Aug 1.
The development of biomedical nanoparticulate materials for use in diagnostics is a delicate balance between performance, particle size, shape, and stability. To identify materials that satisfy all of the criteria it is useful to employ automated high-throughput (HT) techniques for the study of these materials. The structure and performance of surfactant templated mesoporous silica is very sensitive to a wide number of variables. Variables, such as the concentration of the structure-directing agent, the cosolvent and dopant ions and also the temperature and concentration of quenching all have an influence on the structure, surface chemistry, and therefore, the performance of the mesoporous silica nanoparticles generated. Using an automated robotic synthetic platform, a technique has been developed for the high-throughput preparation of mesoporous silica and gadolinium-doped silicate (gadoliniosilicate) nanoparticulate MRI contrast agents. Twelve identical repeats of both the mesoporous silica and gadolinosilicate were synthesized to investigate the reproducibility of the HT technique. Very good reproducibility in the production of the mesoporous silica and the gadolinosilcate materials was obtained using the developed method. The performance of the gadolinosilicate materials was comparable as a T(1) agent to the commercial MRI contrast agents. This HT methodology is highly reproducible and an effective tool that can be translated to the discovery of any sol-gel derived nanomaterial.
用于诊断的生物医学纳米颗粒材料的开发是在性能、颗粒尺寸、形状和稳定性之间的微妙平衡。为了确定满足所有标准的材料，使用自动化高通量 (HT) 技术研究这些材料是很有用的。表面活性剂模板介孔硅的结构和性能对大量变量非常敏感。变量，如结构导向剂的浓度、共溶剂和掺杂离子以及淬火的温度和浓度，都会影响介孔硅纳米颗粒的结构、表面化学性质，从而影响其性能。利用自动化机器人合成平台，开发了一种用于高通量制备介孔硅和掺钆硅酸盐（钆硅酸盐）纳米磁共振成像造影剂的技术。合成了 12 个相同的介孔硅和钆硅酸盐重复样本来研究 HT 技术的重现性。使用所开发的方法，可以很好地重现介孔硅和钆硅酸盐材料的生产。钆硅酸盐材料的性能与商业磁共振成像造影剂相当，作为 T(1) 造影剂。这种 HT 方法具有高度的重现性，是一种有效的工具，可以转化为任何溶胶-凝胶衍生纳米材料的发现。
