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. 2015 Oct 19;3(1):21–40. doi: 10.1039/c5mh00161g

Table 1. (a) MRI contrast agents – part I. (b) MRI contrast agents – part II.

Imaging modality Dye/contrast agent Means of incorporation Polymer components Responsive size change Responsive imaging property Formulation method a Size (nm) Targeting group Cells/in vivo work Therapeutics Ref.
(a)
MRI (Gd-based) Gd-DOTA As chemical crosslinkers PAA chemically crosslinked by DTPA/DOTA crosslinkers N/A N/A A 54–85 N/A N/A N/A 20
MRI (Gd-based) Gd-DTPA Conjugation Poly(PEGMA)-crosslink by ethylene glycol bisacrylamide N/A N/A B 10 N/A Imaging of blood vessel in mice N/A 54
MRI (Gd-based) Gd-DTPA Electrostatic PAA + chitosan pH (zeta potential) N/A A + D 220 N/A Imaging of rabbit brain and liver N/A 56
MRI (Gd-based) + NIR fluorescence Gd3+ Cy 5.5 As physical crosslinkers (electrostatic) Conjugation PEI N/A N/A B 159 ± 62 N/A Imaging of SCC7 tumor of mice N/A 55
MRI (Fe3O4) Fe3O4 Encapsulation Dextrin-VA-SC16 N/A N/A C 100 N/A Uptake in Murine bone marrow-derived macrophages N/A 61
MRI (Fe3O4) Fe3O4 As core from which polymer matrix was built on Poly(PEGMA) crosslinked with MBA N/A N/A A + E 68 N/A N/A Doxorubicin 63 and 64
MRI (Fe3O4) Fe3O4 As core from which polymer matrix was built on Poly(AEM·HCl) crosslinked with MBA N/A N/A A + E 19 N/A Healthy mice N/A 65
MRI (Fe3O4) Fe3O4 Encapsulation Poly(NIPAAm-co-AA) crosslink by MBA Temperature and pH N/A A + E 237 (pH 2.7) to 387 (7.6) 25 °C a N/A Cytotoxicity on HeLa cells Doxorubicin 62
MRI (Fe3O4) Fe3O4 Encapsulation Self-assembly of poly(AAc-co-DSA); further coated by (poly(γ-GA-co-γ-GAOSu)-g-PEG-FA) pH and magnetic hyperthermia N/A C + D 243 (pH 4.7) to 221 (pH 7.4) 20 °C a Folate acid Therapeutic efficacy on tumor-bearing mice Doxorubicin 77
(b)
MRI (Fe3O4) + UV fluorescence Fe3O4 fluorescein Encapsulation Conjugation PBMA-g-(C12/fluorescein) N/A N/A C 131–250 N/A N/A N/A 60
MRI (Fe3O4) + UV fluorescence Fe3O4 fluorescein Encapsulation Conjugation pCBMA with disulfide crosslinks Disulfide: reducing environment N/A A + E 110 RGD Uptake in Macrophage cell Fluorescently labeled dextran (model) 75
MRI (Fe3O4) + NIR fluorescence Fe3O4 Cy5.5 Encapsulation Conjugation Poly(NIPAAm-co-AA) pH and/temperature N/A A + E 100 (pH 6.8) to 85 (pH 7.4) at 37 °C a Lactoferrin Imaging of C6 glioma in rats N/A 66
MRI (Fe3O4) + UV fluorescence Fe3O4 Dil Encapsulation Encapsulation Self-assembled poly(NIPAAm-co-AA) coated with PEI through electrostatic interaction Temperature N/A C + D 200 N/A Imaging of mice injected with nanogels-loaded hMSC EPFG expression plasmid 68
MRI (Fe3O4) + UV fluorescence MnFe2O4 fluorescent Schiff base bond (C Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019 N) and double bond (C Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019 C) As core from which polymer graft on Part of polymer matrix Self-assembled PLL crosslinked by poly-GA N/A N/A B + E <200 N/A Imaging of mice injected with nanogels-loaded DC N/A 69
MRI (19F) 19F-TFEMA Part of polymer matrix Poly-(DEAMA-co-TFEMA-EGDMA-PEG) crosslinker with ethylene glycol pH Signal is turned “On” as pH decrease A 63 (pH 7.4) and 90 (pH 6.5) N/A N/A N/A 72 and 73

a Formulation methods: refer to Fig. 1.