Self-assembled microbubbles as contrast agents for ultrasound/magnetic resonance dual-modality imaging

In this work, superparamagnetic self-assembled microbubbles (SAMBs) consisting of "Poly(acrylic acid)-Iron oxide nanoparticles-Polyamine" sandwich-like shells and tetradecafluorohexane cores were fabricated by a template-free self-assembly approach. The SAMBs exhibit not only magnetic resonance (MR) T2 imaging functionality, but also ultrasound (US) image contrast, showing great potential as US/MR dual contrast agents. The diameters of the SAMBs can be tuned easily from 450nm to 1300nm by changing the precursor ratio, and this size variation directly affects their in vitro MRI and US signals. The SAMBs also exhibit in vivo contrast enhancement capabilities in rat liver with injection through portal vein, for both MR and US imaging. Additionally, the biodistribution of SAMBs over time suggests normal systemic metabolic activity through the spleen. The results show that the Fe content in rat liver reduces to a level of which Fe cannot be detected in 45days. The SAMBs exhibit no obvious damage to the primary organs of rat during the metabolic process, indicating their good biocompatibility in vivo.