Dextran Sulfate-Modified and pH-Responsive Nanoprobes for Magnetic Resonance/Fluorescence Dual-Modality Imaging of Vulnerable Plaques.

Triggered by the vulnerability to atherosclerotic plaques, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have become a main reason for high mortality worldwide. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop functional molecular imaging modalities to improve the detection rate of vulnerable plaques. In this study, polyethyleneimine (PEI) was coated on the surface of mesoporous silica nanoprobes (MSN) loaded with GdO (MSN@GdO), followed by coupling the fluorescent dye carboxylated heptamethine cyanine (IR808), and then the dextran sulfate (DS) was modified on the surface of MSN@GdO@IR808 by electrostatic adsorption, to construct a targeted and pH-responsive magnetic resonance (MR)/near-infrared fluorescence imaging (NIRF) dual-modal nanoprobe (MSN@GdO@IR808@DS nanoparticles).

Hyaluronic acid-modified mesoporous silica nanoprobes for target identification of atherosclerosis.

Rupture of vulnerable plaque and secondary thrombosis caused by atherosclerosis are one of the main causes of acute cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, and it is urgent to develop an in-situ, noninvasive, sensitive and targeted detection method at molecular level. We chose CD44, a specific receptor highly expressed on the surface of macrophages, as the target of the molecular probe, and modified the CD44 ligand HA onto the surface of GdO@MSN, constructing the MRI imaging nanoprobe HA-GdO@MSN for targeted recognition of atherosclerosis. The fundamental properties of HA-GdO@MSN were initially investigated.