Magnetic Nanobeads as Potential Contrast Agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Metal-oxo clusters have been used as building blocks to form hybrid nanomaterials and evaluated as potential MRI contrast agents. We have synthesized a biocompatible copolymer based on a water stable, nontoxic, mixed-metal-oxo cluster, Mn8Fe4O12(L)16(H2O)4, where L is acetate or vinyl benzoic acid, and styrene. The cluster alone was screened by NMR for relaxivity and was found to be a promising T 2 contrast agent, with r 1 = 2.3 mM–1 s–1 and r 2 = 29.5 mM–1 s–1. Initial cell studies on two human prostate cancer cell lines, DU-145 and LNCap, reveal that the cluster has low cytotoxicity and may be potentially used in vivo. The metal-oxo cluster Mn8Fe4(VBA)16 (VBA = vinyl benzoic acid) can be copolymerized with styrene under miniemulsion conditions. Miniemulsion allows for the formation of nanometer-sized paramagnetic beads (∼80 nm diameter), which were also evaluated as a contrast agent for MRI. These highly monodispersed, hybrid nanoparticles have enhanced properties, with the option for surface functionalization, making them a promising tool for biomedicine. Interestingly, both relaxivity measurements and MRI studies show that embedding the Mn8Fe4 core within a polymer matrix decreases r 2 effects with little effect on r 1, resulting in a positive T 1 contrast enhancement.