complex at the affected area. Once the complex is reached at the target in vivo, the

therapeutic agent is then released from the magnetic carrier due to specific triggers,

such as pH, temperature, osmolality, or enzyme activity (Estelrich et al. 2015; Lungu

et al. 2016).

Though, MNPs excellently meet the requirements for drug delivery but, the

employment of MNPs for in vivo analysis, the MNPs ought to be stable and soluble

in the aqueous environment which can be addressed by the surface functionalization

of MNPs by inorganic or organic coating moieties. Following the surface

functionalization approach for tailoring the properties of MNPs, Naqvi et al.

(2020) fabricated dopamine-coated Fe3O4 NPs (Fe3O4/SiO2@DA) for the drug

delivery of doxorubicin. The coating of dopamine on the surface of Fe3O4 NPs

imparts the stability and biocompatibility as well as exposes the hydrophilic sites for

the adsorption of drug molecule. Fe3O4/SiO2@DA offers higher loading of the drug

and shorter releasing time with drug release percentage of up to 90% of drug (Naqvi

et al. 2020). Similarly, Dhavale et al. (2021) synthesized chitosan-coated Fe3O4 NPs

(MNP-CS), and the utility of the nanocarrier was assessed in the drug delivery of

anticancer drug telmisartan (TEL) (Dhavale et al. 2021). Herein, chitosan entails

dual performance: as a capping agent and as a bridge for efficient conjugation

between the amino groups of MNP-CS and carboxylic group of TEL. The designed

MNP-CS exhibited loading of TEL drug capacity around 50. Drug-loaded MNP-CS

Fig. 24.1 Applications of magnetic nanoparticles in the area of medicine

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