Lipid-coated silica nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Abstract

Silica particles as a nanoparticulate carrier material for contrast agents have received considerable attention the past few years, since the material holds great promise for biomedical applications. A key feature for successful application of this material in vivo is biocompatibility, which may be significantly improved by appropriate surface modification. In this study we report a novel strategy to coat silica particles with a dense monolayer of paramagnetic and PEGylated lipids. The silica nanoparticles carry a quantum dot in their centre and are made target-specific by the conjugation of multiple (alpha)v(beta)3-specifc RGD-peptides. We demonstrate their specific uptake by endothelial cells in vitro using fluorescence microscopy, quantitative fluorescence imaging and magnetic resonance imaging. The lipid coated silica particles introduced here represent a new platform for nanoparticulate multimodality contrast agents.