Multifunctional silica nanotubes for dual-modality gene delivery and MR imaging

Abstract

This work demonstrated the development of multifunctional silica nanotubes (SNT) by functionalization of their inner void and outer surface with magnetic-fluorescence nanocomposites and cationic polymers, respectively. The successful construction of BPEI-SNT was established by electron energy loss spectroscopy in conjugation with standard analytical tools. The mean fluorescence intensity in a FACS assay, a luciferase gene expression assay and a confocal fluorescence study demonstrated the efficacy of BPEI-SNT as a gene delivery vector. Endocytotic uptake was also demonstrated by the colocalization of LysoTracker Red (R) and green fluorescent quantum dots. Moreover, enhanced magnetic resonance imaging revealed the potential of the BPEI-SNT nanocomposite to act as a dual-modality nano-device. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.