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Gadolinium (III) oxide nanoparticles coated with folic acid-functionalized poly(β-cyclodextrin-co-pentetic acid) as a biocompatible targeted nano-contrast agent for cancer diagnostic: in vitro and in vivo studies

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Abstract

Objectives

In this study, a novel targeted MRI contrast agent was developed by coating gadolinium oxide nanoparticles (Gd2O3 NPs) with β-cyclodextrin (CD)-based polyester and targeted by folic acid (FA).

Materials and methods

The developed Gd2O3@PCD–FA MRI contrast agent was characterized and evaluated in relaxivity, in vitro cell targeting, cell toxicity, blood compatibility and in vivo tumor MR contrast enhancement.

Results

In vitro cytotoxicity and hemolysis assays revealed that Gd2O3@PCD–FA NPs have no significant cytotoxicity after 24 and 48 h against normal human breast cell line (MCF-10A) at concentration of up to 50 µg Gd+3/mL and have high blood compatibility at concentration of up to 500 µg Gd+3/mL. In vitro MR imaging experiments showed that Gd2O3@PCD–FA NPs enable targeted contrast T1- and T2-weighted MR imaging of M109 as overexpressing folate receptor cells. Besides, the in vivo analysis indicated that the maximum contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of tumor in mice increased after injection of Gd2O3@PCD–FA up to 5.89 ± 1.3 within 1 h under T1-weighted imaging mode and reduced to 1.45 ± 0.44 after 12 h. While CNR increased up to maximum value of 1.98 ± 0.28 after injection of Gd2O3@PCD within 6 h and reduced to 1.12 ± 0.13 within 12 h.

Conclusion

The results indicate the potential of Gd2O3@PCD–FA to serve as a novel targeted nano-contrast agent in MRI.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the research chancellor of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (Grant no. 96-04-30-36739), Tehran, Iran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Physic, School of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Tohid Mortezazadeh

  2. Biomaterials Group, The Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (TIPS), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 1417614411, Tehran, Iran

    Elham Gholibegloo & Mehdi Khoobi

  3. Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Nader Riyahi Alam & Sadegh Dehghani

  4. Department of Pharmaceutical Biomaterials, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Nader Riyahi Alam & Mehdi Khoobi

  5. Pharmaceutical Department, Food and Drug Laboratory Research Center, Food and Drug Organization (FDO), Ministry of Health, Imam St., Valiasr Cross, Tehran, 1113615911, Iran

    Soheila Haghgoo & Hossein Ghanaati

  6. Medical Imaging Center, Imam Hospital Complex, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Keshavarz Blvd, Tehran, 1419733141, Iran

    Hossein Ghanaati

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  1. Tohid Mortezazadeh
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Correspondence to Nader Riyahi Alam or Mehdi Khoobi.

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The authors do not have any conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All in vivo protocols were performed based on the European Community guidelines and was approved by local ethical committee, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran (Approval number: IR.TUMS.REC0.1394.1461).

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Mortezazadeh, T., Gholibegloo, E., Alam, N.R. et al. Gadolinium (III) oxide nanoparticles coated with folic acid-functionalized poly(β-cyclodextrin-co-pentetic acid) as a biocompatible targeted nano-contrast agent for cancer diagnostic: in vitro and in vivo studies. Magn Reson Mater Phy 32, 487–500 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-019-00738-2

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