A simple and efficient method for polymer coating of iron oxide nanoparticles

Abushrida, Ahmed; Elhuni, Ibteisam; Taresco, Vincenzo; Marciani, Luca; Stolnik, Snow; Garnett, Martin C.

Abstract

Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONP) have many possible uses including as MRI contrast agents, for drug delivery and cell labelling, but need to be stabilised and to be rendered biocompatible through appropriate coatings. Many current coatings are suboptimal, so we have investigated methodology to produce thin coatings using biocompatible polymers. We have produced uncoated IONP by a co-precipitation method in a range of sizes and subsequently coated the nanoparticles using poly(glycerol adipate) using the interfacial deposition method. To produce the necessary thin coatings a relatively small addition of polymer (approx. 0.1-0.2mg polymer per 38mg IONP) was necessary. A number of different PGA polymer variants with different physicochemical properties were used and the results suggested that the polymer properties also affected the coating process. Optimum coatings only a few nm thick (1-3nm) were obtained with a linear poly(ethylene glycol)-PGA copolymer modified with 40% pendant oleic acid moieties. The resulting sterically stabilised IONP were stable against aggregation at and above physiological salt concentrations. Preliminary experiments demonstrated that the nanoparticles had relaxivity values comparable to commercially available IONP of a similar size and could be taken up readily by cells. This coating method therefore shows promise for a variety of medical applications.

Citation

Abushrida, A., Elhuni, I., Taresco, V., Marciani, L., Stolnik, S., & Garnett, M. C. (2020). A simple and efficient method for polymer coating of iron oxide nanoparticles. Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology, 55, Article 101460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jddst.2019.101460

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 10, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Dec 18, 2019
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Dec 17, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 19, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology
• Print ISSN: 1773-2247
• Electronic ISSN: 1773-2247
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 55
• Article Number: 101460
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jddst.2019.101460
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3591292
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1773224719304939