title: Alginate-based ferrofluid and magnetic microsphere thereof.
abstract: The Fe(3)O(4) ferrofluids have been prepared using sodium alginate (Na-AL) as a stabilizing agent. The alginate can prevent the aggregation of magnetic nanoparticles and hence contributed to higher stability for the ferrofluids. Furthermore, the alginate component in the ferrofluids was crosslinked by Ca(2+) to produce magnetic microspheres. The swelling behavior of magnetic microspheres showed a pH-dependence, and hence determined the drug release process under various pH conditions. The presence of the Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles made the magnetic microspheres swell more easily. Meanwhile, the strong ability to absorb the drug for the incorporated Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles decreased the release rate and hence was more favorable to the sustaining release of drug. Except for the controlled delivery and release of drug, the alginate-based ferrofluids and magnetic microspheres in this work might also show a great potential for other biomedical and biotechnological applications, such as, magnetic targeting, magnetic separation and magnetic resonance imaging.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemical Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, PR China.
authors.forename: Peihu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Fengfeng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Shaofeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Daxin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jiahui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jinghua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D020723:Glucuronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D006603:Hexuronic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D058085:Iron Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D008280:Magnetics; D008863:Microspheres; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011208:Powders; D000077385:Silybin; D012838:Silymarin / Q000494:pharmacology; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013997:Time Factors; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D006603:Hexuronic Acids; D058085:Iron Compounds; D011208:Powders; D012838:Silymarin; D000077385:Silybin; D020723:Glucuronic Acid