화학공학소재연구정보센터
Langmuir, Vol.28, No.28, 10398-10408, 2012
Syntheses and Characterization of Lisinopril-Coated Gold Nanoparticles as Highly Stable Targeted CT Contrast Agents in Cardiovascular Diseases
Lisinopril was used as the targeting moiety to prepare gold non oparticle-based functional CT contrast agents. Pure lisinopril, thioctic acid lisinopril conjugate, and reduced thioctic acid lisinopril conjugate were used to obtain GNP-Lis, GNP-TA-Lis, and GNP-RTA-Lis, respectively, via ligand exchange reaction on citrate-coated gold nanoparticles (GNPs). These lisinopril-decorated GNPs were fully characterized, and their chemical stabilities in biological relevant media and in high salt concentration were compared. Their relative stabilities toward lyophilization and against cyanide-induced decomposition were also investigated. Because of their higher stability, GNP-TA-Lis were used to assess the targeting of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) using X-ray computed tomography (CT). The images obtained displayed high contrast in the region of the lungs and heart, clearly indicating the targeting of ACE, whose overexpression is associated with development of cardiac and pulmonary fibrosis. Thus, the new nanoprobes prepared here will serve as very useful tools for the monitoring of cardiovascular pathophysiologies using CT imaging.