Silica-based mesoporous materials have widespread applications in drug delivery and imaging. Thus far, the most commonly used drug carrier is the MCM and SBA series, and the nanoparticle pore size has important effects on drug loading and release. However, the impact on pore size has not yet been studied for effects on imaging including ultrasound signal. Herein, we synthesized MCF with 10 nm pore sizes (Fig. A) and SBA-15 (Fig. B, C) with 4 nm pore size followed by ultrasound imaging at 40 MHz (Fig. D). The average gray-scale values of MCF nanoparticles at the same weight concentrations of 2.5, 5, 10, 20 mg/ml offer 1.14, 1.17, 1.11, 1.06-fold better signal than SBA-15, respectively (Fig. E). The limit of detection is 0.61mg/mL for SBA and 0.44mg/mL for MCF. Future work will optimize MCF nanoparticles’ morphology and pore size to load therapeutic proteins for combined therapy and imaging.

Ultrasound signal of mesocellular foam and mesoporous nanoparticles

251st National Meeting (2016)

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