Enginereed Nanostructures for Drug delivery and Biomedical Imaging

Abstract

newlineIn this thesis, multifunctional nanoparticles were fabricated using metal nanoparticles and biocompatible materials to act as contrast agents for diagnostic imaging and as drug carriers. The works presented in the thesis were designed with the prime focus of developing alternative MRI contrast agents to the existing gadolinium chelates. Magnetic nanoparticles of iron oxide and manganese ferrite were used as main key components along with mesoporous silica and carbon dots. The advantageous feature of each employed nanoparticle was utilized and combined to achieve the best results. A new strategy was also opted to actively transport the nanoparticles to the tumour microenvironment by encapsulating silver nanoclusters with macrophage membranes. The physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles were studied using characterization techniques such as FTIR, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, Particle size analysis, XRD, VSM, SEM and TEM. Hemocompatibility and biocompatibility assays were done to establish the negligible toxic nature of the nanoparticles. Contrasting abilities of the nanoparticles was demonstrated using phantom and animal models in a 1.5 T MRI scanner and a small animal imaging system.