Chitosan oligosaccharide based Gd-DTPA complex as a potential bimodal magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent

A new gadolinium diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) complex (Gd-DTPA-DMABA-CS11) as a potential bimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent with fluorescence was synthesized. It was synthesized by the incorporation of 4-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde (DMABA) and chitosan oligosaccharide (CSn; n = 11) with low polydispersity index to DTPA anhydride and then chelated with gadolinium chloride. The structure was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), 1H NMR, elemental analysis and size exclusion chromatography (SEC). MRI measurements in vitro were evaluated. The results indicated that Gd-DTPA-DMABA-CS11 provided higher molar longitudinal relaxivity (r1) (12.95 mM− 1 · s− 1) than that of commercial Gd-DTPA (3.63 mM− 1 · s− 1) at 0.5 T. Gd-DTPA-DMABA-CS11 also emitted fluorescence, and the intensity was much stronger than that of Gd-DTPA. Therefore, it can be meanwhile used in fluorescent imaging for improving the sensitivity in clinic diagnosis. Gd-DTPA-DMABA-CS11 as a potential contrast agent is preliminarily stable in vitro. The results of thermodynamic action between Gd-DTPA-DMABA-CS11 and bovine serum albumin (BSA) illustrated that the binding process was exothermic and spontaneous, and the main force was van der Waals’ interaction and hydrogen bond. The preliminary study suggested that Gd-DTPA-DMABA-CS11 could be used in both magnetic resonance and fluorescent imaging as a promising bimodal contrast agent.