The work presented in this report demonstrates that amphiphilic polysaccharide-clasped self-assembly (Amp-SA) with nanometer size, encapsulating hydrophobic nanoparticles (NPs) can be generated via electrohydrodynamic spraying. It is observed that the formation of hydrophobic NP-encapsulated Amp-SA is dependent on the surface chemistry of NPs. The citrate-coated magnetic NPs (MNPs-Cit) were also prepared and compared. The hydrophobic magnetic NP-encapsulated Amp-SA (Amp-SA-M) exhibited around 2.7-2.8-fold higher values in r2 relaxivity than that of MNPs-Cit. In addition, the resulting Amp-SA-M achieved ∼17.2-fold higher values in r2/r1 ratios than MNPs-Cit. The enhanced performances in magnetic transverse (r2) relaxivity and r2/r1 ratio as well as the in vivo behavior of Amp-SA-M suggest the potential of Amp-SA-M as a promising MRI nanoprobe. This approach based on the nature-originated amphiphilic biopolymers may provide a novel insight into electrohydrodynamic techniques that have the ability to create various nanostructures, encapsulating high-quality hydrophobic nanomaterials for applications in diverse biotechnology.
Keywords: amphiphilic polysaccharides; electrohydrodynamic spraying; enhanced magnetic resonance performance; hydrophobic nanoparticles; nanoscale self-assembly.