Min-Kyoung Kang1,
Hee-Kyung Kim1, Ki-Hye Jung2, Ji-Ae Park3,
Seung-Tae Woo4, Joo-Hyun Kim4, Eun-Young Jeon5,
Tae-Jeong Kim2, Yongmin Chang1, 6
1Medical
& Biological Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea; 2Applied
Chemistry, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea; 3Molecular
Imaging Research Center, Korea Institute of Radiological & Medical
Science, Seoul, Korea; 4Bayer Healthcare, Medical care, Seoul,
Korea; 5The Advanced Medical Technology Cluster for Diagnosis
& Prediction, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea; 6Diagnostic
Radiology and Molecular Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea
Gold/gadolinium core-shell nanoparticles of the formula Au@SiO2@Gd@PEG were synthesized for use as a CT/MR bimodal contrast agent. The preparation initially requires the formation of Au@SiO2 through self-condensation of TEOS on the surface of AuNPs. Au@SiO2 thus formed was dispersed in aqueous alcohol to react with Gd(NO3) 3 in the presence of urea, leading to the formation of Au@SiO2@Gd core-shell nanoparticles. In order to increase solubility as well as biocompatibility further coated with PEG. These systems reveal both high CT attenuation and MR relaxivities (R1 = 13.01 mM-1sec-1) so may be put into entry a new class of CT/MR bimodal imaging probes.