Application of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle
New Generation of MRI Contrast Agent of Gd-assisted Mesoporous Complex
A new class of magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents with mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) as the metal chelater is reported. The particles is nanosized and can penetrate cell membrane efficiently. We synthesized series of structure similar to the annular Gd-DOTA mesoporous silica nanoparticle (Figure 1). Furthermore, we use this material to adsorb gadolinium and other metals (Table 1) and try to find optimized adsorb and most stable condition. Our target is to obtain which kind of functionalized MSNs can adsorb more Gd3+ metal ion and have much higher affinity.
Absorption of Toxic Compounds by Functionalized MSN
Because of high surface area, selectivity of adsorption substance, and low toxicity, MSN was wildly used in adsorption of toxic molecules and drug delivery system. Generally, people use activated carbon to remove toxic chemicals, however, it showed poor removal ability (Table 2). According to characteristic of MSN, our lab designs different functionalized MSN’s derivative compound to adsorb toxic chemicals, such as MVH, EVB, EVI, and etc.
Cleavage of DNA on Modified MSN Platform
It is a promising work to design reagents that will bind DNA to prohibit recognition or targeting by pathogenic molecules or artificial endonucleases which are binding and cleaving specific DNA sequence. Herein, we planned to design a new DNA cleavage agent. Model by utilizing MSN with modified amino group on its surface so that it may be able to interact with DNA through electrostatic force (Scheme 1) and then to digest DNA spontaneously.