A Blood-Labyrinth Barrier-Crossing Nanoprobe for Sensitive Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Inner Ear
Contrast-enhanced inner ear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides clinicians with powerful structural and pathological information for the diagnosis of inner ear diseases. However, currently used gadolinium (Gd) chelate-mediated contrast-enhanced MRI conveys insufficient inner ear specificity, and Gd-based contrast agents have a short body retention time and cause severe ototoxicity. Herein, we present the rational design of a sensitive inner ear-specific nanoprobe (I-PUSPIO) for inner ear MRI that is composed of an ultrasmall iron oxide core, the IETP2 peptide, and polyethylene glycol. Such a well-defined nanostructure endows it with blood-labyrinth barrier crossing capacity, leading to a high accumulation rate in the inner ear and prolonged body retention. In vivo I-PUSPIO can enhance high-resolution MRI of cochlear tissue and shows no evidence of toxicity. This study demonstrates the potential of I-PUSPIO as a sensitive contrast agent for inner ear MRI in clinical settings.
Authors
- Shiyong Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4216-8226)
- Yuchao Dong
- Xinchen Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4931-8821)
- Xiangyu Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1496-0358)
- Wei Ren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1975-6046)
- Wu Zhong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0536-620X)
- Musan Huangfu
- Qiaohui Lu
- Shiming Yang
- Huan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9464-2474)
- Yan Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5233-8244)
- Chao Shang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9006-8492)
- Zihao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4661-8511)
Institutions
- Central South University (CN)
- Jilin University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Chinese PLA General Hospital (CN)
- Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry (CN)
- Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CN)
- Powder Metallurgy Institute (BY)
- Jilin Medical University (CN)
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CN)
- Changchun Institute of Technology (CN)
- Balance Therapeutics (United States) (US)
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering (CN)
- Institute of Pharmacology (CZ)
- State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy
Publication Details
- Journal
- Chemical & Biomedical Imaging
- Published
- 2025-08-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/cbmi.5c00049
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.61
Funders
- Natural Science Foundation of Jilin Province
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Beijing Nova Program