Amnon Bar-Shir1, Liat Avram1,
Smadar Cohen2, Yoram Cohen1
1School of Chemistry, Tel Aviv
University, Tel Aviv, Israel; 2Biotechnology Engineering,
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
Ca2+
plays an important role in many biological processes. Currently, the imaging
technologies that are used for Ca2+ imaging are mostly based on optical methodologies.
Based on the facts that alginates polysaccharides can be cross-linked,
selectively, with Ca2+ ions and that SPIO aggregation may change the contrast
of T2WI, we suggest the SPIO-alginate nanoparticles as "smart" MRI
probes for Ca2+ detection. In this study we describe the synthetic procedure
of the water-soluble SPIO-alginate nanoparticles and the MRI detectability of
different Ca2+ concentrations in variable aqueous solutions (water, serum and
culture cell media) at physiological conditions using this
nanoparticles-based probe.
Keywords