Synthesis of Fe3O4-Gold hybrid nanoparticles coated by bovine serum albumin as a contrast agent in MR imaging

Despite the over spatial separation and the ability to determine soft tissues, insufficient contrast is the shortcoming of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that could be circumvented by the use of contrast agents. The use of MRI contrast agents are widely applied to enhance the vision of in-ternal body structures. Nano-sized contrast materials have unique application advantages compared to other contrast agents due to their size and shape. However, for contrast agents such as bare iron (II, III) oxide (Fe3O4) magnetic nanoparticles (NPs), aggregation and accumulation are the main shortcomings. Thus, surface modifications are necessary for their use in biophar-maceutical applications. Gold, Au, nanoparticles are of big interesting for use in biomedical purposes due to their chemical stability and oxidation resistance. In this study, we synthesized magnetic Fe3O4-Au hybrid NPs with a facile method and coated them with bovine serum albumin (BSA) to increase their chemical stability and biocompatibility. Afterwards, the hybrid nano -system was characterized by some methods, and their potential to increase MRI contrast was investigated by the phantom MRI experiments. Our data showed that the signal intensity on MR images was significantly reduced, thus confirming the contrast ability of the formulated Fe3O4--Au-BSA NPs.

Automated summary

Insufficient contrast is a limitation of MRI, which can be overcome by using contrast agents. Nano-sized contrast materials, such as Fe3O4-Au hybrid NPs, have unique advantages but suffer from aggregation and accumulation. Surface modifications, like coating with BSA, are necessary to improve their stability and biocompatibility. The synthesized Fe3O4-Au-BSA NPs showed a significant reduction in signal intensity on MR images, confirming their contrast ability.