Magnetic Drug Delivery Devices: Characterization and Swelling Studies

JIMENA SOLEDAD GONZALEZ; VERONICA LASSALLE; VERA ALEJANDRA ALVAREZ

Mar del Plata

Congreso; XVIII congreso argentino de Bioingeniería. VII Jornadas de Ingeniería Clínica. 2º Taller de Órganos Artificiales, Biomateriales e Ingeniería de Tejidos; 2011

XVIII congreso argentino de Bioingeniería. VII Jornadas de Ingeniería Clínica. 2º Taller de Órganos Artificiales, Biomateriales e Ingeniería de Tejidos

Magnetic gels represent a new type of composite and consist of small magnetic particles, dispersedin a highly elastic polymeric matrix. In addition, due to their sensitivities to both magnetic field andtemperature, thermo sensitive polymer magnetic microspheres offer a high potentiality in the designof a targeting drug delivery system, which is considered a safe and effective way for tissue-specificrelease of drugs. The aim of this work was to obtain and characterize ferrogels and magneticnanoparticles (MNPs) able to absorb or release a drug under magnetic fields. For this purpose,polyvinylalcohol (PVA) ferrogels and chitosan (CS)/MNPs were synthesized. Ferrogels showeddimensional stability, capability of swell in bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution and a superparamagnetic behavior. The nanoparticles sizes were comprised between 20-35 nm containing thefunctional groups of CS. The potential of these materials as protein adsorbents was evaluated byphysical adsorption of a model protein, BSA. The adsorption efficiency was studied using bothferrogels and nanoparticles as supports. The preliminary results indicate that both materials are very promissory regarding the possibility to design drug delivery devices, biosensors, among otherbiomedical devices.