@article {11034,
	title = {A value-added exopolysaccharide as a coating agent for MRI nanoprobes},
	journal = {Nanoscale},
	year = {2015},
	pages = {14272-83},
	abstract = {<p>Fucopol, a fucose-containing exopolysaccharide (EPS) produced by the bacterium Enterobacter A47 DSM 23139 using glycerol as a carbon source, was employed as a new coating material for iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). The coated particles were assessed as nanoprobes for cell labeling by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The MNPs were synthesized by a thermal decomposition method and transferred to an aqueous medium by a ligand-exchange reaction with meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA). Covalent binding of EPS to DMSA-stabilized nanoparticles (MNP{\textendash}DMSA) resulted in a hybrid magnetic{\textendash}biopolymeric nanosystem (MNP{\textendash}DMSA{\textendash}EPS) with a hydrodynamic size of 170 nm, a negative surface charge under physiological conditions and transverse to longitudinal relaxivity ratio, r2/r1, of 148. In vitro studies with two human cell lines (colorectal carcinoma {\textendash} HCT116 {\textendash} and neural stem/progenitor cells {\textendash} ReNcell VM) showed that EPS promotes internalization of nanoparticles in both cell lines. In vitro MRI cell phantoms showed a superior performance of MNP{\textendash}DMSA{\textendash}EPS in ReNcell VM, for which the iron dose-dependent MRI signal drop was obtained at relatively low iron concentrations (12{\textendash}20 μg Fe per ml) and short incubation times. Furthermore, ReNcell VM multipotency was not affected by culture in the presence of MNP{\textendash}DMSA or MNP{\textendash}DMSA{\textendash}EPS for 14 days. Our study suggests that Fucopol-coated MNPs represent useful cell labeling nanoprobes for MRI.</p>
},
	url = {http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2015/NR/C5NR01979F$\#$!divAbstract},
	author = {Susana I C J Palma and Rodrigues, Carlos A. V. and Freitas, Filomena and Alexandra Carvalho and Alexandra R. Fernandes and Maria del Puerto Morales and Cabral, Joaquim M. S. and Roque, Ana C A}
}
