Transport of Magnetic Polyelectrolyte Capsules in Various Environments

Carmen Stavarache,Mircea Vinatoru,Timothy Mason

doi:10.3390/coatings12020259

Abstract

Microcapsules consisting of eleven layers of polyelectrolyte and one layer of iron oxide nanoparticles were fabricated. Two types of nanoparticles were inserted as one of the layers within the microcapsule’s walls: Fe2O3, ferric oxide, having a mean diameter (Ø) of 50 nm and superparamagnetic Fe3O4 having Ø 15 nm. The microcapsules were suspended in liquid environments at a concentration of 108 caps/mL. The suspensions were pumped through a tube over a permanent magnet, and the accumulation within a minute was more than 90% of the initial concentration. The design of the capsules, the amount of iron embedded in the microcapsule, and the viscosity of the transportation fluid had a rather small influence on the accumulation capacity. Magnetic microcapsules have broad applications from cancer treatment to molecular communication.

Highlights

Drug delivery systems are formulations or medical devices designed to transport the therapeutic agent to the specific site where it is needed, followed by controlled release, in a reduced dose, minimizing undesirable side effects [1,2,3]
Microcapsules consisting of 11 layers of polyelectrolyte and 1 layer of iron oxide nanoparticles were fabricated and tested as possible drug delivery systems for solid tumors
In order to capture the drug carriers at the tumor site, a simple cylindrical tube system passing over a permanent magnet was used to track the trajectory of magnetic particles under a laminar flow

Summary

Introduction

Drug delivery systems are formulations or medical devices designed to transport the therapeutic agent to the specific site where it is needed (organ, tissue), followed by controlled release, in a reduced dose, minimizing undesirable side effects [1,2,3]. Polyelectrolyte capsules (PEs) are versatile drug carriers due to their constitution and properties [8,9] Their fabrication involves a layer-by-layer technique: the construction of shells by alternating adsorption of oppositely charged polymers, either of natural origin (nucleic acids [10,11], pectin [12,13], alginate [14,15]), chemically adapted (chitosan [12,16,17], chitin [18]), or artificial (polyvinyl [19], polyacrylic acid [20,21], methacrylic acid [22], polystyrene [23], polyacrylamides [24], alkyl-trialkyl ammonium salts [22]). This technique allows the incorporation of other materials between polymer layers (biomolecules, nanoparticles)

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