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Fe3O4@Angelica sinensis polysaccharide nanoparticles as an ultralow-toxicity contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging

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Abstract

Although iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles have broad application prospects as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent, their biocompatibility and biotoxicity still need to be improved. In this study, we prepared Fe3O4@Angelica sinensis polysaccharide nanoparticles (Fe3O4@ASP NPs) with a 9 nm Fe3O4 core and ASP as the coating material. The Fe3O4@ASP NPs are superparamagnetic, can be taken up by liver and spleen macrophages in the circulatory system in vivo, and are a good-biocompatibility and low-toxicity transverse relaxation time (T2) and T2-star (T2*) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent for the liver. The cytotoxicity assessment using HeLa cells and the pathological tests in mice validate that Fe3O4@ASP NPs have low toxicity and good biocompatibility in vivo, which can be attributed to the ASP as a natural polysaccharide with good biocompatibility and its function of protecting the liver. Fe3O4@ASP NPs are a potential new MRI contrast agent with high signal intensity in vivo.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No.2019YFB2005801), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51671019, 51731003, 51971024, 51927802 and 51971023), Bei**g Natural Science Foundation Key Program (No. Z190007) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. FRF-MP-19-004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Bei**g, Bei**g, 100083, China

    Kai Wang, **ao-Guang Xu, Ying-Li Ma & Yong Jiang

  2. School of Instrumentation Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, Beihang University, Bei**g, 100191, China

    Kai Wang

  3. School of Chinese Medicine, Bei**g University of Chinese Medicine, Bei**g, 100029, China

    Chun-Rui Sheng & Li-Na Li

  4. School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Bei**g, Bei**g, 100083, China

    Li-Ying Lu

  5. Department of Radiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Bei**g, 100730, China

    Jian Wang & Yi-Ning Wang

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  1. Kai Wang
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Wang, K., Xu, XG., Ma, YL. et al. Fe3O4@Angelica sinensis polysaccharide nanoparticles as an ultralow-toxicity contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging. Rare Met. 40, 2486–2493 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01620-0

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