Synthesis and Characterization of Polydopamine Nanoparticles Functionalized with Hyaluronic Acid as a Potentially Targeted Computed Tomography Contrast Agent

In this work, polydopamine nanoparticles (PDA NPs) functionalized with hyaluronic acid (HA) (PDA/HA NPs) are synthesized and chelated with Ba 2+ ions as a potential tumor-targeted computed tomography (CT) CA. The ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) analyses validate the self-polymerization of PDA NPs with a distinct absorption peak around 280 nm, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) confirms the coating of HA on PDA NPs by the difference in the thermal decomposition process of PDA and PDA/HA NPs. Moreover, the results of dynamic light scattering (DLS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) show that the size of spherical PDA/HA NPs generally declines with increasing HA. The results of adsorption isotherms show that the adsorption process of Ba 2+ ions with PDA/HA NPs is favorable chemisorption. The synthesized Ba/PDA/HA NPs show no significant cytotoxicity at Ba 2+ concentration of 1.45 mg/mL and 25 μg/mL for HEK293 and HepG2 cell lines, respectively, and the CT results of Ba/PDA/HA NPs show similar X-ray attenuation to the commercial CT contrast agents. Graphical abstract