Targeted delivery of magnetic aerosol droplets to the lung

Petra Dames, Bernhard Gleich, Andreas Flemmer, Kerstin Hajek, Nicole Seidl, Frank Wiekhorst, Dietmar Eberbeck, Iris Bittmann, Christian Bergemann, Thomas Weyh, Lutz Trahms, Joseph Rosenecker, Carsten Rudolph

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

361 Scopus citations

Abstract

The inhalation of medical aerosols is widely used for the treatment of lung disorders such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, respiratory infection and, more recently, lung cancer. Targeted aerosol delivery to the affected lung tissue may improve therapeutic efficiency and minimize unwanted side effects. Despite enormous progress in optimizing aerosol delivery to the lung, targeted aerosol delivery to specific lung regions other than the airways or the lung periphery has not been adequately achieved to date. Here, we show theoretically by computer-aided simulation, and for the first time experimentally in mice, that targeted aerosol delivery to the lung can be achieved with aerosol droplets comprising superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles - so-called nanomagnetosols - in combination with a target-directed magnetic gradient field. We suggest that nanomagnetosols may be useful for treating localized lung disease, by targeting foci of bacterial infection or tumour nodules.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)495-499
Number of pages5
JournalNature Nanotechnology
Volume2
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2007

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