Oil Core–PEG Shell Nanocarriers for In Vivo MRI Imaging

Abstract

Oil‐in‐water emulsions represent a promising carrier for in vivo imaging because of the possibility to convey poorly water‐soluble species. To promote accumulation at the tumor site and prolong circulation time, reduction of carrier size and surface PEGylation plays a fundamental role. In this work a novel, simple method to design an oil‐core/PEG‐shell nanocarrier is reported. A PEG‐shell is grown around a monodisperse oil‐in‐water nanoemulsion with a one‐pot method, using the radical polymerization of poly(ethylene glycol)diacrylate. PEG polymerization is triggered by UV, obtaining a PEG‐shell with tunable thickness. This core–shell nanosystem combines the eluding feature of the PEG with the ability to confine high payloads of lipophilic species. Indeed, the core is successfully loaded with a lipophilic contrast agent, namely super paramagnetic iron oxide nanocubes. Interestingly, it is demonstrated an in vitro and an in vivo MRI response of the nanocapsules. Additionally, when the nanosystem loaded with nanocubes is mixed with a fluorescent contrast agent, indo‐cyanine green, a relevant in vitro photoacoustic effect is observed. Moreover, viability and cellular uptake studies show no significant cell cytotoxicity. These results, together with the choice of low cost materials and the scale up production, make this nanocarrier a potential platform for in vivo imaging.

Dye‐Loaded Nanoemulsions: Biomimetic Fluorescent Nanocarriers for Bioimaging and Nanomedicine

“…[177] PEG shell at the NEs surface was also introduced using a radical polymerization of poly(ethylene glycol)diacrylate, and the oil core-PEG shell NEs were successfully loaded with lipophilic contrast agents, such as iron oxide nanocubes and fluorescent dye indocyanine green. [178]…”

Tunable Release of Curcumin with an In Silico-Supported Approach from Mixtures of Highly Porous PLGA Microparticles

“…After, 20.83 mg of CUR was added to the mixture [38]. The final emulsion was obtained by adding 19.3 mL of Milli-Q water to oil phase [34]. After the process, 100 µL of CUR-NE was used to produce CUR-NE-MPs as described in the previous paragraph.…”

“…We decided to use curcumin since it is a powerful active substance by itself (ex. anti-inflammatory [33,34], anticancer [33]) and a hydrophobic molecule with a logP value of~3.0, which allows it to be dissolvable in common organic solvents and partially soluble in polar solvents including water [35]. These characteristics are common to many hydrophobic drugs (prostaglandin, doxorubicin) making curcumin an ideal model drug.…”

Combining Nanomaterials and Developmental Pathways to Design New Treatments for Cardiac Regeneration: The Pulsing Heart of Advanced Therapies

“…Among the diagnostic techniques available at present, photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is a non-invasive diagnostic tool which provides high sensitivity and helps overcoming the limited depth penetration and spatial resolution of the conventional optical imaging (Wang and Hu, 2012). In order to increase the image contrast when using this technique, nanoparticles have been successfully employed as contrast agent material (Calcagno et al, 2019). Qin et al (2018) recently reported the use of NPs composed by a semiconductor polymeric contrast agent (PCPDTBT) encapsulated in a FDA approved lipid-based copolymer (DSPE-PEG-Maleimide).…”