Bita Mehravi - Radiation Biology Research Center, Iran University Of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Khadijeh Ashtari - Department Of Medical Nanotechnology, Faculty Of Advanced Technology In Medicine, Iran University Of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran
Hojatola Nazari - Department Of Medical Nanotechnology, Faculty Of Advanced Technology In Medicine, Iran University Of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran
Neda iranpour - Department Of Medical Nanotechnology, Faculty Of Advanced Technology In Medicine, Iran University Of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran

Cancer cells diagnostic in early stage using noninvasive techniques is high global interest.Mesoporous silica nanoparticles functionalized by targeting group were further modified by loadingwith fluorescent and contrast agent with the aim of specifically targeting cancer cells imaging withreduced side effects. Due to the high abundance of folate receptors in various cancer cells, folic acidwas used as the targeting group. The intracellular uptake of this nanoprbe was analyzedquantitatively and qualitatively by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICPAES),T1 and T2 mapping in vitro in a 3 T MRI scanner, flow cytometry, and fluorescent microscopyin cell lines expressing different levels of folate receptors. The cellular uptake of foliconanoprbewas about 62.01% in cancer cell. 2.6 times more foliconanoprbe were internalized by cancer cellsexpressing folate receptors as compared to the normal cells expressing low levels of the receptorand. Average cellular uptake of 0.7 ± 0.007 pg Gd3+ per cancer cell without any cell toxicity. The r1relaxivity of this nanoprobe in the cancer cells was measured to be 12.9 ± 1.6 mM−1s−1 and on a perGd3+ basis. These results showed that GSN provided a critical guideline in selecting thesenanoparticles as an appropriate contrast agent for nanomedicine applications.