Active porous Ferrogel for on-demand drug and cell delivery

Porous biomaterials have been widely used as porous structure in tissue engineering and cell-based therapies. The release of biological agents from conventional porous scaffolds is typically governed by molecular diffusion, material degradation, and cell migration, which do not allow for dynamic external regulation. We present a new active porous structure that can be remotely controlled by a magnetic field to deliver various biological agents on demand. The active porous scaffold, in the form of a macroporous ferrogel, gives a large deformation and volume change of over 70% under a moderate magnetic field. Ferrogel macroporous structure in the presence of magnetite nanoparticles (synthesized by co-precipitation method) in the polymeric matrix of chitosan - alginate is made. The deformation and volume variation allows a new mechanism to trigger and enhance the release of various drugs including levodopa, plasmid DNA from the Porous structure. The porous structure can also act as a depot of various cells, whose release can be controlled by external magnetic fields. The products Alg-Chi-MNP were characterized by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD). The results suggest that the alginate combined with magnetite nanoparticles is a promising system for release of Drug in the presence of EMF

Keywords:

Drug Delivery , Magnetic Nanoparticles , Sodium Alginate , Chitosan