Preparation and MRI performances of core-shell structural PEG salicylic acid-gadolinium composite nanoparticles

Gadolinium (III)-based T1 contrast agents have been widely used in clinical MRI. In this study, salicylic acid-gadolinium chelate was prepared via directly coordination reaction of gadolinium ion and salicylic acid. Then, three polyethylene glycols with different molecular weight were modified on the surface of salicylic acid-gadolinium by simple chemical coupling to construct three core-shell structural Gd based composites. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterization results show that the composite is a spherical particle with a diameter of about 100–200 nm. The longitudinal relaxation rate r1 of the Gal-PEG-2000 is 11.097 (mmol/L)−1/s, and the ratio of r2/r1 is as low as 2.53. The composite shows good liver and intestines MRI performances after being used in in vivo imaging, showing a good prospect of biological application.