clinicians, and other health professionals throughout the world, and continual efforts

are being made to improvise this approach. Researchers are using this magnetic

nanoparticle as an effective tool in the in vitro experiments to deliver the nucleic

acids into the cells which are hard to transfect (Marcus et al. 2016). Its use has also

been extrapolated for targeted delivery of other biomolecules such as antibodies,

plasmids, proteins, microRNA (miRNA), silencer RNA (siRNA), noncoding RNA,

and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPRs) to the

targeted regions in the body (Hryhorowicz et al. 2019; Jin et al. 2018; Rohiwal et al.

2020; Zhu et al. 2019; Kaushik et al. 2019). In this chapter we will discuss different

aspects of this emerging new technology including its basic principles, different

types of magnetic nanomaterials used, its application in the ex vivo and in vitro

studies, as well as its future implications.

17.2

Discovery, Basic Principle, and Technique

The use of magnetic nanoparticle for drug delivery was first proposed in 1978 by

Widder et al. (Widder et al. 1978) The principle behind the magnetic nanoparticles is

biomolecules or drugs that are attached to polymer-encapsulated nanoparticles with

a magnetic core made of nontoxic iron oxide or porous polymer structure that can

accommodate iron oxide magnetic NPs which get precipitated within the pores

(McBain et al. 2008). The drug is generally attached to the polymer with appropriate

linker, and then the therapeutic agent NP (magnetofectin) complex is injected into

the bloodstream, or near the disease target site in the body. Magnetic fields created

by powerful rare earth neodymium magnets is applied over the target site to attract

the magnetofectin leading to their accumulation at the target site. While this is

effective for targets near the body’s surface, it may be hard to apply magnetic field

at sites deeper within the body. Researchers have been working relentlessly to devise

a solution which can resolve this issue. The use of magnetized stunts, implantation of

magnets near the target site, or magnetic probes within the body (Kubo et al. 2000)

have been beneficial in coping with the limitations. Besides targeted delivery, NPs

have also been employed for diagnostic purposes like magnetic bioseparation and

purification of biomolecules, magnetic biosensing, magnetic imaging and treatment

for hyperthermia (Wu et al. 2019).

17.3

Applications

In vitro applications: Magnetofection has emerged as a useful method in cells which

are difficult to transfect. OZ Biosciences INC USA (San Diego, USA) has the

flagship product line for developing and commercializing molecular delivery

systems specialized in transfections of nucleic acids, viral vectors in models which

are difficult to transfect such as stem cells, microglial cells, neurons, or endothelial

cells. Transfection efficiency depends on many factors including cellular binding

and internalization of reagent-gene complexes, delivery of nucleic acids into the

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