Sara Figueiredo1, 2, Silvia Rizzitelli1, Juan Carlos Cutrin3, Joo Nuno Moreira4, Carlos F. G. C. Geraldes2, Silvio Aime1, Enzo Terreno1
1Department of Chemistry IFM and Molecular & Preclinical Imaging Centers, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; 2Department of Life Sciences, FCTUC and Center for Neurosciences and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; 3Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; 4Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology Faculty of Pharmacy and CNC, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
Yeast cell wall particles (YCWPs) are a promising class of nature-inspired biocompatible microcarriers that can be used for the delivery of amphipathic/lipophilic imaging reporters. The new loading procedure applied to YCWPS yields the highest longitudinal relaxivity per particle ever reported for Gd-based systems. Furthermore, these particle display high affinity towards antigen presenting cells, namely macrophages and dendritic cells, potentiating their use in cell tracking experiments.