作者：Guang Hui Gao, Geun Ho Im, Min Sang Kim, Jae Won Lee, Jehoon Yang, Hyesung Jeon, Jung Hee Lee, Do
關鍵字：Polymer micelle; imaging
論文來源：期刊
具體來源：Small
發(fā)表時間：2010年
Nanometer-sized particles are increasingly used for biomedical
applications,[1] as polymeric micelles to carry hydrophobic
imaging markers and/or drugs for disease diagnosis and
therapy.[2] Usually, these polymeric micelles in an aqueous
medium are composed of a hydrophobic core and a hydrophilic
corona, sometimes conjugated with active-targeting ligands
(e.g., antibody, peptides, nucleic acids) that can target the
biomarker of a disease.[2a–c] On the other hand, some polymeric
micelles alone, not conjugated with a targeting ligand, can also
target the pathologic tissue by a stimuli-response mechanism,
with which pH, temperature, or redox can be a stimulus
condition.[3] In this context, a pH-responsive polymeric micelle
is utilized to be reactive in an acidic-pH environment, in which it
is then dissolved. We envisioned that if we encapsulate
magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4), which are frequently used
as a contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), into
the pH-responsive polymeric micelle, the resulting Fe3O4-
nanoparticle-loaded pH-responsive polymeric micelle could be
used as a contrast agent for MRI to target and, simultaneously,
image the pH-stimuli tissue, such as cancerous tissue. Herein,
we report a facile and powerful pH-responsive polymeric
micelle that can well encapsulate Fe3O4 nanoparticles, and its
potential applications in medicine for diagnostic imaging of
acidic pathologic areas.