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Bisphosphonate-anchored PEGylation and radiolabeling of superparamagnetic iron oxide : long-circulating nanoparticles for in vivo multimodal (T1 MRI-SPECT) imaging

Efficient delivery of nanomaterials to specific targets for in vivo imaging is hindered by short circulation times due to sequestration by the reticuloendothelial system. To overcome this, we prepared a new class of ultra small-superparamagnetic oxide nanomaterials (USPIOs) by PEGylation using novel bishosphonate linker chemistry. This gave them longer circulation times making them outstanding MRI contrast agents, visualising blood vessels and vascular organs with high spatial definition. We demonstrate that these USPIOs have the strongest T1-MRI contrast reported to date and were also easily radiolabelled with Tc-99m for high sensitivity SPECT imaging, leading to applications in targeted multimodal imaging.