Cobalt Zinc Ferrite Nanoparticles as a Potential Magnetic Resonance Imaging Agent: An In vitro Study

Background: Magnetic Nanoparticles (MNP) have been used for contrast enhance-ment in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). In recent years, research on the use of ferrite nanoparticles in T2 contrast agents has shown a great potential application in MR imaging. In this work, Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 and Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4-DMSA magnetic nano-particles, CZF-MNPs and CZF-MNPs-DMSA, were investigated as MR imaging con-trast agents. Methods: Cobalt zinc ferrite nanoparticles and their suitable coating, DMSA, were in-vestigated under in vitro condition. Human prostate cancer cell lines (DU145 and PC3) with bare (uncoated) and coated magnetic nanoparticles were investigated as nano-contrast MR imaging agents. Results: Using T2-weighted MR images identified that signal intensity of bare and coated MNPs was enhanced with increasing concentration of MNPs in water. The values of 1/T2 relaxivity (r2) for bare and coated MNPs were found to be 88.46 and 28.80 (mM–1 s–1), respectively. Conclusion: The results show that bare and coated MNPs are suitable as T2-weighted MR imaging contrast agents. Also, the obtained r2/r1 values (59.3 and 50) for bare and coated MNPs were in agreement with the results of other previous relevant works