- Multifunctional inorganic nanoparticles for imaging, targeting, and drug delivery.
Multifunctional inorganic nanoparticles for imaging, targeting, and drug delivery.
Drug delivery, magnetic resonance and fluorescence imaging, magnetic manipulation, and cell targeting are simultaneously possible using a multifunctional mesoporous silica nanoparticle. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanocrystals were encapsulated inside mesostructured silica spheres that were labeled with fluorescent dye molecules and coated with hydrophilic groups to prevent aggregation. Water-insoluble anticancer drugs were delivered into human cancer cells; surface conjugation with cancer-specific targeting agents increased the uptake into cancer cells relative to that in non-cancerous fibroblasts. The highly versatile multifunctional nanoparticles could potentially be used for simultaneous imaging and therapeutic applications.