Facile Synthesis of PEGylated Tungsten-based Nanoprobes for Gastric Computed Tomography Imaging

Abstract With the development of science and technology, PEGylated nanoprobes have attracted a great deal of interest in the molecular imaging area of modern medicine. These nanoprobes play an important role especially in diagnosis of gastric diseases. The transition metal oxides as gastric contrast agents based on PEGylated WO 3− x nanoprobes were designed in this work. The nanoprobes were developed via a high-temperature solvent thermal method, and then modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to improve stability and dispersivity of nanoprobes in water. The characterizations of PEGylated WO 3− x nanoprobes included scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis etc. Moreover, in vivo toxicological studies were carried out with histopathology. Otherwise, as a contrast agent, multi-slice computed tomography (MDCT) imaging were illustrated both in vitro and in vivo assessment. The results indicated that PEGylated WO 3− x nanoprobes had great potential for gastric MDCT imaging in detection of gastric diseases.