Facile Synthesis of Holmium-Based Nanoparticles as a CT and MRI Dual-Modal Imaging for Cancer Diagnosis
Tianqi Zhang, Mo Deng, Lei Zhang, Zerun Liu, Yang Liu, Shuyan Song, Tingting Gong, Qinghai Yuan
Abstract
The rapid development of medical imaging has boosted the abilities of modern medicine. As single modality imaging limits complex cancer diagnostics, dual-modal imaging has come into the spotlight in clinical settings. The rare earth element Holmium (Ho) has intrinsic paramagnetism and great X-ray attenuation due to its high atomic number. These features endow Ho with good potential to be a nanoprobe in combined x-ray computed tomography (CT) and T 2 -weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Herein, we present a facile strategy for preparing HoF 3 nanoparticles (HoF 3 NPs) with modification by PEG 4000. The functional PEG-HoF 3 NPs have good water solubility, low cytotoxicity, and biocompatibility as a dual-modal contrast agent. Currently, there is limited systematic and intensive investigation of Ho-based nanomaterials for dual-modal imaging. Our PEG-HoF 3 NPs provide a new direction to realize in vitro and vivo CT/MRI imaging, as well as validation of Ho-based nanomaterials will verify their potential for biomedical applications.