The current difficulty in treating
blood lead poisoning lies in
effectively removing Pb(II), which is mainly located inside red blood
cells (>95%) and is complexed with hemoglobin, without causing
damage
to the blood environment. In this work, a new type of blood nanoremover
that can safely enter red blood cells to remove the Pb(II) located
in the cells is reported. Specifically, using tetraethyl orthosilicate
(TEOS) as the silicon source, a silica shell with a mesoporous pore
size of about 30 nm was synthesized on the outer surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles, resulting in Fe3O4/mSi with flower morphology. Then, dimercaptosuccinic acid
(DMSA) with good affinity to Pb(II) was modified inside the pores
of the silica shell to obtain Fe3O4/mSi/D. The
experimental results showed that the size of the synthesized Fe3O4/mSi/D was relatively uniform, and the pore structures
were regular. Fe3O4/mSi/D would not cause obvious
hemolysis and coagulation in the blood, and they could avoid the phagocytosis
of the immune system and enter the red blood cells. The removal efficiency
of Pb(II) by Fe3O4/mSi/D can reach about 73.5%
in 30 min. This strategy provides the possibility for the removal
of heavy metals in blood.