A new class of polymer coated lanthanide fluoride nanoparticle aggregates (NPAs) was developed as potential MRI contrast agents. The NPA synthesis has been perfected to control the size distribution and optimize relaxivities. Polyacrylic acid was used as a stabilizing polymer, and was conjugated to folic acid to improve targeting to SK-BR-3 breast cancer cells. Terbium was incorporated in the synthesis to study the passive and active targeting properties of NPAs. Through a series of microscopy experiments, a significant difference in uptake between NPAs with and without targeting moieties occurs after 48 hours of incubation. The relaxivity of the optimized nanoparticles was measured to be 56 s-1(mg/ml)-1 using a 1.5 T scanner, which may be compared to that of the commercially available Gd3+-DTPA [R1 = 7 s-1(mg/ml)-1]. Abdominal perfusion studies in rats also demonstrated that the NPAs provide better contrast of the vasculature than Gd3+-DTPA does at the same mass concentration.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/24548 |
| Date | 22 July 2010 |
| Creators | Cheung, Evelyn |
| Contributors | Prosser, Robert Scott |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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