Polysaccharide-based nanoparticles exhibit a great potential as holders for imaging and drug agents because of their intrinsic physicochemical properties being biocompatible and biodegradable. Moreover, they are highly stable, safe, non-toxic, hydrophilic and offer a large variety of functional groups, degree of branching (linear to highly branched) and molecular weight (low to high). Thus, they have a wide variety of composition and properties that cannot be replicated in a chemical laboratory, and the ease of their production makes various polysaccharides cheaper than synthetic polymers. Therefore, the use of polysaccharides as biomaterials is quite promising for biomedical applications. In this work, we will discuss about polysaccharides being a key component in the development of contrast agents for the new magnetic resonance imaging technologies. In this context, different processing strategies for synthesizing different polysaccharide-based composite nanoparticles will be presented.

European Materials Research Society - Spring Meeting 2016, Symposium R (multifunctional nanostructures for diagnostic and therapeutic of diseases