Department of Molecular Imaging, School of Medical Technology, Qiqihar Medical University, Qiqihar 161006, China.
Animal Laboratory Center, Qiqihar Medical University, Qiqihar 161006, China.
Molecules. 2023 Mar 3;28(5):2363. doi: 10.3390/molecules28052363.
The application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) nano-contrast agents (nano-CAs) has increasingly attracted scholarly interest owing to their size, surface chemistry, and stability. Herein, a novel T1 nano-CA (Gd(DTPA)-GQDs) was successfully prepared through the functionalization of graphene quantum dots with poly(ethylene glycol) bis(amine) and their subsequent incorporation into Gd-DTPA. Remarkably, the resultant as-prepared nano-CA displayed an exceptionally high longitudinal proton relaxivity (r) of 10.90 mM s (R = 0.998), which was significantly higher than that of commercial Gd-DTPA (4.18 mM s, R = 0.996). The cytotoxicity studies indicated that the Gd(DTPA)-GQDs were not cytotoxic by themselves. The results of the hemolysis assay and the in vivo safety evaluation demonstrate the outstanding biocompatibility of Gd(DTPA)-GQDs. The in vivo MRI study provides evidence that Gd(DTPA)-GQDs exhibit exceptional performance as T1-CAs. This research constitutes a viable approach for the development of multiple potential nano-CAs with high-performance MR imaging capabilities.
由于其尺寸、表面化学性质和稳定性，磁共振成像（MRI）纳米造影剂（nano-CAs）的应用越来越受到学者的关注。本文通过聚乙二醇双（胺）对石墨烯量子点进行功能化，并将其进一步掺入 Gd-DTPA 中，成功制备了一种新型 T1 纳米造影剂（Gd(DTPA)-GQDs）。值得注意的是，所制备的纳米造影剂表现出异常高的纵向质子弛豫率（r）为 10.90 mM s（R = 0.998），明显高于商业 Gd-DTPA（4.18 mM s，R = 0.996）。细胞毒性研究表明，Gd(DTPA)-GQDs 本身没有细胞毒性。溶血试验和体内安全性评价的结果表明，Gd(DTPA)-GQDs 具有出色的生物相容性。体内 MRI 研究证明 Gd(DTPA)-GQDs 作为 T1-CAs 具有优异的性能。本研究为开发具有高性能磁共振成像能力的多种潜在纳米造影剂提供了一种可行的方法。
