title: Biodegradable magnesium nanoparticle-enhanced laser hyperthermia therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recently, nanoparticles have been demonstrated to have tremendous merit in terms of improving the treatment specificity and thermal ablation effect on tumors. However, the potential toxicity and long-term side effects caused by the introduced nanoparticles and by expelling them out of the body following surgery remain a significant challenge. Here, we propose for the first time to directly adopt magnesium nanoparticles as the heating enhancer in laser thermal ablation to avoid these problems by making full use of the perfect biodegradable properties of this specific material.
  
  
  METHODS
  To better understand the new nano "green" hyperthermia modality, we evaluated the effects of magnesium nanoparticles on the temperature transients inside the human body subject to laser interstitial heating. Further, we experimentally investigated the heating enhancement effects of magnesium nanoparticles on a group of biological samples: oil, egg white, egg yolk, in vitro pig tissues, and the in vivo hind leg of rabbit when subjected to laser irradiation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both the theoretical simulations and experimental measurements demonstrated that the target tissues injected with magnesium nanoparticles reached much higher temperatures than tissues without magnesium nanoparticles. This revealed the enhancing behavior of the new nanohyperthermia method.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Given the unique features of magnesium nanoparticles--their complete biological safety and ability to enhance heating--which most other advanced metal nanoparticles do not possess, the use of magnesium nanoparticles in hyperthermia therapy offers an important "green" nanomedicine modality for treating tumors. This method has the potential to be used in clinics in the near future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Zhizhu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Derui
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Di
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D020341:Absorbable Implants; D000818:Animals; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced / Q000379:methods*; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008274:Magnesium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011817:Rabbits; D012881:Skin Temperature / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D008274:Magnesium