Magnetic liposomes

In Drug Delivery

Additional

Applications &

the Future

Other applications in genomics and DNA isolation are also being ventured into using magnetic liposomes.  Using the particles themselves could be used as carriers for binding proteins and enzymes, which can be used for bioassays.

Magnetic fluids have been investigated as potential hyperthermia causing agents due to their specific adsorption rate, which is beneficial in the findings which suggest hyperthermia is an approach for cancer treatment that uses AC magnetic fields to cancer tissue containing the magnetic fluids.

Still, additional applications include cell sorting applications, immunomagnetic assays, and cell isolation and separation.

Magnetic liposomes is a relatively new field and has a lot of potential in cancer treatment among other things.  Current methods using magnetic liposomes and an external magnetic field in treating tumors and other diseases are limited by the location of the diseases due to the inability of the magnet to focus onto one specific location.

Research in creating strong enough magnets to pinpoint a location anywhere within the body would be very beneficial to the field of magnetic liposomes. Diseases located deep within the body could be treated specifically in that region of the body, instead of just a general location.

 

E-mail: bshergil@uci.edu

Bhupinder Shergill

BME 240 UC Irvine

Figure 5: Nanoparticles in microdroplets (green) are delivered along the airways (brown) towards the lungs (grey) guided by the localized magnetic field created by the magnet (red).