Potential applicability of polyethyleneimine PEI-coated Eu2O3 and Dy2O3 nanoparticles for contrast enhancement in computed tomography

Abstract Rare-earth metal oxide nanoparticles considered promising contrast agents for x-ray computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The main purpose of this study is to investigate the potential applicability of polyethyleneimine (PEI)-coated Eu 2 O 3 and Dy 2 O 3 nanoparticles (NPs) for CT x-ray attenuation. Morphology and other physicochemical properties of prepared samples were systematically investigated using a range of characterization tools. Preliminary cytotoxicity experiments with L-929 fibroblastic cells suggested that both samples have no significant toxicity at concentrations below 100 μ g ml −1 . Clinical CT analysis shows that PEI@Eu 2 O 3 NPs exhibit higher x-ray attenuation efficiency (∼8 HU mM −1 ) as compared to PEI@Dy 2 O 3 NPs (∼5 HU mM −1 ).