Michael K.
Nkansah1, Durga Thakral1, Erik M. Shapiro, 12
1Department of Biomedical Engineering,
Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States; 2Department of
Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT,
United States
Magnetic
cell labeling has primarily been accomplished using dextran-coated iron-oxide
nanoparticles. A drawback to their use is the low iron content per particle,
coupled with cessation of commercial production. As an alternative,
micron-sized iron-oxide particles (MPIOs) have been used, the benefits of
which are that they contain ~ 30% iron. The downside is that MPIOs are
composed of inert, non-degradable and not FDA-approved polymers, potentially
limiting clinical utility. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of
fluorescent, biodegradable MPIOs, composed of PLGA and cellulose, two
FDA-approved polymers. These particles have high relaxivity and are capable
of labeling cells for MRI-based cell tracking.