Fluorescent oligo(p-phenyleneethynylene) contained amphiphiles-encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles for targeted magnetic resonance and two-photon optical imaging in vitro and in vivo

Nanoscale Pub Date: 2015-04-10 DOI: 10.1039/C5NR00806A

Abstract

Folate receptor-targeted multifunctional fluorescent magnetic nanoparticles (FMNPs) composed of cores containing iron oxide nanocrystals and amphiphilic oligo(p-phenyleneethynylene) shells with multimodal imaging capability were successfully prepared through a convenient hydrophobic encapsulation approach. The iron oxide nanoparticles in the core provided T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), whereas the amphiphilic oligomers on the surface of the nanoparticles introduced good water-solubility, biocompatibility, excellent fluorescent properties and cancer-targeting. These nanoparticles exhibited superparamagnetic properties with saturation magnetization (Ms) of 23 emu g?1 and a transverse relaxivity rate of 140.89 mM?1 s?1. In vitro studies indicated that the dual-modal FMNPs can serve as an effective two-photon fluorescent and a magnetic probe to achieve the targeted imaging of Hela cells without obvious cytotoxicity. In vivo two-photon fluorescence and MRI results demonstrated that the FMNPs were able to preferentially accumulate in tumor tissues to allow dual-modal detection of tumors in a living body. These studies provided insight in developing novel multifunctional probes for multimodal imaging, which would play an important role for theranostics in biomedical science.

Graphical abstract: Fluorescent oligo(p-phenyleneethynylene) contained amphiphiles-encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles for targeted magnetic resonance and two-photon optical imaging in vitro and in vivo
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