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Poly(amino acid) functionalized maghemite and gold nanoparticles
Davide Perego1, Norberto Masciocchi, Antonietta Guagliardi
1Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
Nanotechnology
|January 30, 2013
Summary
Poly(amino acid)s like poly-(d-glutamic acid, d-lysine) (PGL) offer a novel coating for nanoparticles. PGL-coated maghemite nanoparticles functionalized with Alexa Fluor create dual magnetic/fluorescent probes for advanced in vivo imaging.
Area of Science:
- Nanomedicine
- Polymer Chemistry
- Bioconjugate Materials
Background:
- Bimodal imaging probes combining MRI and optical imaging (OI) are crucial for nanomedicine.
- Poly(amino acid)s are understudied as coating polymers for nanoparticles in vivo.
- Poly-(d-glutamic acid, d-lysine) (PGL) is a flexible, biocompatible polymer with potential for nanoparticle functionalization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the use of poly-(d-glutamic acid, d-lysine) (PGL) as a coating for maghemite and gold nanoparticles.
- To demonstrate the incorporation of new functionalities onto PGL-coated nanoparticles.
- To develop novel bimodal magnetic/fluorescent imaging probes for in vivo applications.
Main Methods:
- Coating of maghemite and gold nanoparticles with PGL.
- Functionalization of PGL-coated maghemite nanoparticles with Alexa Fluor derivatives.
- Characterization of the resulting dual-property nanoparticles for potential imaging applications.
Main Results:
- Successful coating of maghemite and gold nanoparticles with PGL was achieved.
- Dangling lysine amino groups on the PGL coating enabled facile incorporation of Alexa Fluor.
- PGL-coated maghemite nanoparticles functionalized with Alexa Fluor exhibited magnetic and fluorescent properties.
Conclusions:
- Poly-(d-glutamic acid, d-lysine) is a promising polymer for coating nanoparticles.
- PGL-coated nanoparticles can be readily functionalized for multimodal imaging.
- These novel magnetic/fluorescent nanoparticles hold potential as bimodal MRI/OI probes for in vivo imaging.
