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Folic acid-conjugated GdPO4:Tb3+@SiO2 Nanoprobe for folate receptor-targeted optical and magnetic resonance bi-modal imaging

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Abstract

Both fluorescent and magnetic nanoprobes have great potential applications for diagnostics and therapy. In the present work, a folic acid-conjugated and silica-modified GdPO4:Tb3+ (GdPO4:Tb3+@SiO2-FA) dual nanoprobe was strategically designed and synthesized for the targeted dual-modality optical and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging via a facile aqueous method. Their structural, optical, and magnetic properties were determined using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), ultraviolet-visible spectra (UV-Vis), photoluminescence (PL), and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). These results indicated that GdPO4:Tb3+@SiO2-FA were uniform monodisperse core-shell structured nanorods (NRs) with an average length of ~200 nm and an average width of ~25 nm. The paramagnetic property of the synthesized GdPO4:Tb3+@SiO2-FA NRs was confirmed with its linear hysteresis plot (M-H). In addition, the NRs displayed an obvious T1-weighted effect and thus it could potentially serve as a T1-positive contrast agent. The NRs emitted green lights due to the 5D4 → 7F5 transition of the Tb3+. The in vitro assays with NCI-H460 lung cancer cells and human embryonic kidney cell line 293T cells indicated that the GdPO4:Tb3+@SiO2-FA nanoprobe could specifically bind the cells bearing folate receptors (FR). The MTT assay of the NRs revealed that its cytotoxicity was very low. Further in vivo MRI experiments distinctively depict enhanced anatomical features in a xenograft tumor. These results suggest that the GdPO4:Tb3+@SiO2-FA NPs have excellent imaging and cell-targeting abilities for the folate receptor-targeted dual-modality optical and MR imaging and can be potentially used as the nanoprobe for bioimaging.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Science and Technology Education Department of Jiangxi Province (Grant No. KJLD13018).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science, Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Protection and Utilization of Subtropical Plant Resources of Jiangxi Province, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330031, China

    Xianzhu Xu

  2. Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang, 330013, China

    Xiaoying Zhang & Yanli Wu

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  1. Xianzhu Xu
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  2. Xiaoying Zhang
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  3. Yanli Wu
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Correspondence to Yanli Wu.

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All the animal treatments were conducted in conformity with institutional guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals in Jiangxi Normal University.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Xu, X., Zhang, X. & Wu, Y. Folic acid-conjugated GdPO4:Tb3+@SiO2 Nanoprobe for folate receptor-targeted optical and magnetic resonance bi-modal imaging. J Nanopart Res 18, 334 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-016-3649-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-016-3649-x

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