The accumulation and formation of β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques in the brain are distinctive pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Designing nanoparticle (NP) contrast agents capable of binding with Aβ highly selectively can potentially facilitate early detection of AD. However, a significant obstacle is the blood brain barrier (BBB), which can preclude the entrance of NPs into the brain for Aβ binding. In this work, bovine serum albumin (BSA) coated NPs are decorated with sialic acid (NP-BSAx-Sia) to overcome the challenges in Aβ imaging in vivo. The NP-BSAx-Sia is biocompatible with high magnetic relaxivities, suggesting that they are suitable contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The NP-BSAx-Sia binds with Aβ in a sialic acid dependent manner with high selectivities toward Aβ deposited on brains and cross the BBB in an in vitro model. The abilities of these NPs to detect Aβ in vivo in human AD transgenic mice by MRI are evaluated without the need to coinject mannitol to increase BBB permeability. T2*-weighted MRI shows that Aβ plaques in mouse brains can be detected as aided by NP-BSAx-Sia, which is confirmed by histological analysis. Thus, NP-BSAx-Sia is a promising new tool for noninvasive in vivo detection of Aβ plaques. |
