International Journal of Nanomedicine (Jan 2018)

Nano-graphene oxide composite for in vivo imaging

  • Jang SC,
  • Kang S,
  • Lee JY,
  • Oh SY,
  • Vilian ATE,
  • Lee I,
  • Han Y,
  • Park JH,
  • Cho WS,
  • Roh C,
  • Huh YS

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 221 – 234

Abstract

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Sung-Chan Jang,1,2,* Sung-Min Kang,1,* Jun Young Lee,3,* Seo Yeong Oh,1 AT Ezhil Vilian,4 Ilsong Lee,1,2 Young-Kyu Han,4 Jeong Hoon Park,3 Wan-Seob Cho,5,* Changhyun Roh,2,6 Yun Suk Huh1 1Department of Biological Engineering, Biohybrid Systems Research Center (BSRC), Inha University, Incheon, 2Biotechnology Research Division, 3Radiation Instrumentation Research Division, Advanced Radiation Technology Institute (ARTI), Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Jeongeup, 4Department of Energy and Materials Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul, 5Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Medicinal Biotechnology, College of Health Sciences, Dong-A University, Busan, 6Radiation Biotechnology and Applied Radioisotope Science, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea *These authors contributed equally to this work Introduction: Positron emission tomography (PET) tracers has the potential to revolutionize cancer imaging and diagnosis. PET tracers offer non-invasive quantitative imaging in biotechnology and biomedical applications, but it requires radioisotopes as radioactive imaging tracers or radiopharmaceuticals. Method: This paper reports the synthesis of 18F-nGO-PEG by covalently functionalizing PEG with nano-graphene oxide, and its excellent stability in physiological solutions. Using a green synthesis route, nGO is then functionalized with a biocompatible PEG polymer to acquire high stability in PBS and DMEM. Results and discussion: The radiochemical safety of 18F-nGO-PEG was measured by a reactive oxygen species and cell viability test. The biodistribution of 18F-nGO-PEG could be observed easily by PET, which suggested the significantly high sensitivity tumor uptake of 18F-nGO-PEG and in a tumor bearing CT-26 mouse compared to the control. 18F-nGO-PEG was applied successfully as an efficient radiotracer or drug agent in vivo using PET imaging. This article is expected to assist many researchers in the fabrication of 18F-labeled graphene-based bio-conjugates with high reproducibility for applications in the biomedicine field. Keywords: graphene oxide, nanocomposite, imaging, radiotracer

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