| Abstract
| - Biocompatible polysuccinimide (PSI) derivatives conjugated with diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid gadolinium(DTPA-Gd) were prepared as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. In this study, we synthesizedPSI derivatives incorporating methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG) as hydrophilic ligand, hexadecylamine ashydrophobic ligand, and DTPA-Gd as contrast agent. PSI was synthesized by the polycondensation polymerizationof aspartic acid. All the synthesized materials were characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR).Critical micellization concentrations were determined using fluorescent probes (pyrene). Micelle size and shapewere measured by electro-photometer light scattering (ELS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The formedmicelle size ranged from 100 to 300 nm. The T1-weighted MR images of the phantom prepared with PSI−mPEG-C16−(DTPA-Gd) were obtained in a 3.0 T clinical MR imager, and the conjugates showed a great potentialas MRI contrast agents.
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