Cheraghali Sedigheh, Dini Ghasem, Caligiuri Isabella, Back Michele, Rizzolio Flavio
Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, 30172 Venice, Italy.
Department of Nanotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Isfahan, Isfahan 81746-73441, Iran.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2023 Jan 22;13(3):452. doi: 10.3390/nano13030452.
In this work, MnZn ferrite nanoparticles with hierarchical morphology were synthesized hydrothermally, and their surface characteristics were improved by the PEGylation process. In vitro MRI studies were also conducted to evaluate the ability of the synthesized nanoparticles as a contrast agent. All results were compared with those obtained for MnZn ferrite nanoparticles with normal structure. Microstructural evaluations showed that in ferrite with hierarchical morphology, the spherical particles with an average size of 20 nm made a distinctive structure consisting of rows of nanoparticles which is a relatively big assembly like a dandelion. The smaller particle size and dandelion-like morphology led to an increase in specific surface area for the hierarchical structure (69 m/g) in comparison to the normal one (~30 m/g) with an average particle size of ~40 nm. In vitro MRI, cytotoxicity and hemocompatibility assays confirmed the PEG-coated MnZn ferrite nanoparticles with hierarchical structure synthesized in the current study can be considered as an MRI contrast agent.
在本研究中，采用水热法合成了具有分级形态的锰锌铁氧体纳米颗粒，并通过聚乙二醇化过程改善了其表面特性。还进行了体外磁共振成像（MRI）研究，以评估合成的纳米颗粒作为造影剂的能力。所有结果均与具有正常结构的锰锌铁氧体纳米颗粒的结果进行了比较。微观结构评估表明，在具有分级形态的铁氧体中，平均尺寸约为20 nm的球形颗粒形成了由纳米颗粒行组成的独特结构，这是一种相对较大的聚集体，类似蒲公英。与平均粒径约为40 nm的正常结构（30 m/g）相比，较小的粒径和类似蒲公英的形态导致分级结构的比表面积增加（69 m/g）。体外MRI、细胞毒性和血液相容性测定证实，本研究中合成的具有分级结构的聚乙二醇包覆锰锌铁氧体纳米颗粒可被视为一种MRI造影剂。
