title: From iron oxide nanoparticles towards advanced iron-based inorganic materials designed for biomedical applications.
abstract: In the last decade the progress achieved on the synthesis of inorganic nanostructures has been accompanied by the parallel exploitation of these systems in various fields, among them are biology and medicine. We provide here an overview of the iron-based inorganic nanostructured materials that have been developed and tested in these fields. We will highlight the major concepts on the preparation, physical properties and applications of such nanostructures, starting from the most investigated iron oxide nanoparticles. We will describe then the new generation of inorganic hybrid nanostructures, which are structures that integrate in each nano-object multiple inorganic nanocrystals of different materials. In our discussion we will focus on those works that have provided a sound proof of concept on the potential of the various systems as diagnostic and therapeutic agents.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Figuerola
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Di Corato
authors.forename: Liberato
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Manna
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pellegrino
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D050997:Nanomedicine / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends
chemical_list: D005290:Ferric Compounds; C000499:ferric oxide