Colloids containing gadolinium-capped gold nanoparticles as high relaxivity dual-modality contrast agents for CT and MRI

•First, a novel type of colloids was fabricated from macromolecular gadolinium chelate and gold nanoparticles. This structure provided the functionalized Au with narrow particle size distribution and partial regular arrays in aqueous solution.•Second, the colloids prepared with Gd-coated Au NPs exhibited improved hydrophilicity and contrast enhancement than the corresponding uncoated Au counterparts even though the Au mass content was 0.15%.•Further, the colloids showed remarkable contrast enhancements for MRI and CT, suggesting their great potential as dual-modality contrast agents.

A type of novel macromolecular colloid was prepared from gadolinium-based poly(l-succinimide) and gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with AuS covalent bonds. The colloid displayed improved stability in aqueous media and regular arrays in partial region. Moreover, these materials enhanced the contrast 9 times more than that of the corresponding uncoated Au compound when the Au mass content was only 0.15%. Therefore, these materials might have potential as dual-modality contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT).

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