High Transverse Relaxivity and Anticancer Agent Loading/Release Characteristics of Porous Calcium Phosphate Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

High relaxivity of MRI contrast agents leads to considerable contrast enhancement in the images and provides diagnostic accuracy. The purpose of the current study was to design a potential MRI contrast agent with a high relaxivity and investigate its curcumin loading/release property. To achieve this purpose, we synthesized the porous calcium phosphate coated iron oxide nanoparticles using a facile method and determined the physicochemical characteristics, cell compatibility effect, transverse relaxivity, and curcumin loading/release properties of the nanoparticles. The results indicated the spherical nanoparticles with a size of 10-20 nm. The nanoparticles demonstrated a superparamagnetic property and a high transverse relaxivity of 845.71 mM-1S-1. Although the porous calcium phosphate coated iron oxide nanoparticles were highly cytocompatible, the curcumin loaded nanoparticles showed a considerable effect on the bone marrow stem cells viability. In conclusion, the porous calcium phosphate coated iron oxide nanoparticles have the potential to introduce as a negative contrast agent of MRI with the ability of slow release of curcumin.