Silica-coated Magnetic Nanoparticles An Insight into Targeted Drug Delivery and Toxicology

Abstract

Nanotechnology applied to biomedicine represents one of the most important challengescurrently facing science. The new properties that arise from a system reducedto the nano-scale make this discipline a novel tool to promote a revolution in termsof therapeutics in medicine. There are diverse fields where nanotechnology maycontribute novel strategies to improve conventional therapeutics, with Nanomedicineemerging as a growing field of scientific research. Among the different strategiesdevoted to medical treatments, drug targeting is one where the convergence of differentdisciplines intends to give another approach to the current treatment of diversediseases. Among different types of drug targeting, magnetic targeting presents theadvantage related to nanosystems that may be easily guided by the aid of an externalmagnetic field. This property improves the targeting capability and increases theirpotential applications as target drug delivery systems or magnetic resonance imageagents for diagnostic. However, in terms of medicine and in the application of newtechnologies for therapeutics, biocompatibility arises as one of the most importantissues. So when a nanosystem intended for targeted drug delivery is designed anddeveloped, the first topic a researcher should consider is not only the proper featuresof the biomaterial, but also the safety in terms of compatibility with the organism.There are diverse types of biocompatible materials suitable for magnetic drugtargeting at nanoscale, magnetite being the one of election. Coating of magneticnanoparticles is another important topic when the nanosystems are intended forbiomedical applications. The election of silica as coating material is a very properchoice in terms of its inert properties and in relation to the improvement of the stabilityand the physicochemical properties of the magnetic nanosystems. Anyway,solid silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles have not been explored extensivelyalthough the associated proper features make these systems suitable as drug targeting agents.This book has been conceived as a means of disclosure of the remarkable propertiesrelated to solid-silica magnetic nanoparticles in biomedicine aiming to encompassfrom the synthesis to the biomedical applications of these nanosystems. Inaddition, the main aim of this book it to bring researchers detailed informationabout biomedical topics such as biocompatibility, bioavailability, biodistribution,and toxicity. The goal is to join physicochemical properties with biological insightsto better understand the relation between these approaches and the impact that theyhave in biomedicine.We hope that readers may find here a specific site designed to cover all aspectsrelated to the synthesis, physico-chemical, and biological properties of solid silicacoatedmagnetic nanoparticles. And that the reading of this book may open a newpath in terms of developing more research devoted to these versatile and suitablesystems for the treatment and diagnosis of various specific localized diseases. On the other hand, we hope that this work will serve as a stimulus not only for the development of new magnetic nanosystems based on solid silica but also to continue the study of their properties of biocompatibility. This is necessary for their effective application and implementation as commercially available medical treatments in the not too distant future.