POTENTIAL APPLICABILITY OF POLYETHYLENEIMINE PEI-COATED EU2O3 AND DY2O3 NANOPARTICLES FOR CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT IN COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY

Abstract

Rare-earth metal oxide nanoparticles considered promising contrast agents for x-ray computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The main purpose of this study is to investigate the potential applicability of polyethyleneimine (PEI)-coated Eu2O3 and Dy2O3 nanoparticles(NPs) for CT x-ray attenuation. Morphology and other physicochemical properties of prepared samples were systematically investigated using a range of characterization tools. Preliminary cytotoxicity experiments with L-929 fibroblastic cells suggested that both samples have no significant toxicity at concentrations below 100 μg ml−1 . Clinical CT analysis shows that PEI@Eu2O3 NPs exhibit higher x-ray attenuation efficiency (∼8 HU mM−1 ) as compared to PEI@Dy2O3 NPs(∼5 HU mM−1 ).