Theophylline loaded SiO2 coated iron oxide nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery

Magnetic drug targeting is a drug delivery system that can be used inAsthmatreatment. Coatedmagnetic particles, called carriers, are very useful for deliveringchemotherapeutic drugs. Magnetic carrierswere synthesized by microemulsionof iron oxidefollowed by coating with tetraethylorthosilicate(TEOS).Characterization was carried out usingX-ray diffraction, TEM, SEM, FTIR and VSM techniques. The principle of the encapsulationof iron oxide nanoparticles(Fe3O4@SiO2), with average size of 32nm. The room temperatureVSMmeasurements showed that magnetic particles were superparamagnetic. the attachmentof SiO2 tothe iron oxide nanoparticles was confirmed by FTIR analysis. Theophylline drugloading and releaseprofiles of SiO2 coated iron oxide nanoparticles showed that up to 70% ofadsorbed drug was released in 20 h,the drug release followed the Fickian diffusion-controlledprocess. The binding of Theophylline to the SiO2 wasconfirmed by FTIR analysis. Thepresent findings show that Theophylline loaded SiO2 coated iron oxide nanoparticlesarepromising for magnetically targeted drug delivery.

Keywords:

Inverse micelle , Surface modification , Superparamagnetism , Magnetic particles