Discussion MNPs have gained considerable interest for biomedical applications over the past two decades [17]. Although

this excitement has been driven mostly by the success of MNPs as T2 MR contrast agents [18], the recent investigative trend has turned toward therapy with respect to cancer. The key properties of MNPs for Quisinostat cancer include drug delivery, magnetic hyperthermia, and MR imaging. Thus, MNPs contribute both diagnostic and therapeutic accomplishments in a single system. Drug delivery systems are required to ensure that the drug is properly delivered to target, and nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems have been developed as potential drug carriers for decades. Because the large surface-to-volume ratio of MNPs, like other nano-carriers, enables a high loading of various functional ligands on a single platform, marked attention has been paid to their Selleck GS1101 use as drug delivery vehicles. In our study, the loading efficiency of doxorubicin was 100%. The ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy at 480 nm confirmed that there was not any doxorubicin left in the aqueous solution, which led to a conclusion that washing step to remove unbound doxorubicin was not required. MNP coatings provide anchor points to which drug molecules can be coupled and have incorporated traditional

small molecules such as doxorubicin for cancer therapy [19], as in our study. Resovist is coated with carboxydextran, to which doxorubicin was linked via ionic complexation selleck chemicals by dropping synthesis with an average size of less than 100 nm in our study (Figure 2). When Resovist/doxorubicin

complex reached tumor tissues after intratumoral injection, the Levetiracetam complex was able to carry higher concentrations and exhibited prolonged release of doxorubicin in the tumor tissues as measured by fluorescence microscopy (Figure 9). Magnetic hyperthermia can be used to selectively kill tumor cells via increases in tissue temperature [4]. When MNPs accumulating at the tumor site are exposed to AMF, MNPs absorb this energy and convert it into heat owing to the relaxation of the rotating magnetic moments induced by the AC field. Tumors are usually heated to the temperature range of 41–47°C, and cancer tissues exhibit higher heat sensitivity than normal tissues [20]. It also has been believed that the drug delivery to target could be increased by hyperthermia through its effects on convection and diffusion in tissues, increasing cell uptake of the drug, tumor blood flow and vascular permeability [21]. In our study, Resovist or the Resovist/doxorubicin complex also induced temperature increases to approximately 41°C (Figure 5A). Although magnetic hyperthermia is a promising cancer therapy, the risk of local overheating (and thus damage to normal tissues) remains the major concern, as in other clinical hyperthermia therapies such as radiofrequency ablation or high-intensity focused ultrasound.