Pharmaceutical and biomedical applications of magnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

In the past few years, due to the rapid development of the advances in the pharmaceutical and biomedical field, the magnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles have received considerable attention for their attractive properties. Magnetic nanoparticles are perfect candidates for use in diagnosis and disease treatment because they have properties as superparamagnetic behavior, a high superficial area that allows functionalizing, biocompatibility, nanometric size (10-100 nm), low toxicity, possibility of in vivo manipulation by a low external magnetic field, and placement in a specific place. The key point of magnetic iron-oxide nanomaterials is to develop effective synthesis techniques that allow particles to have with a uniform size, high magnetic saturation, and stability, preventing aggregation and oxidation with air since these result in the loss of its magnetic properties. This chapter presents a review of various strategies to synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles and their use in pharmaceutical and biomedical field.