Biodegradable nanocomposite magnetite stent for implant-assisted magnetic drug targeting

This study shows, for the first time, the fabrication of a biodegradable polymer nanocomposite magnetic stent and the feasibility of its use in implant-assisted-magnetic drug targeting (IA-MDT). The nanocomposite magnetic stent was made from PLGA, a biodegradable copolymer, and iron oxide nanopowder via melt mixing and extrusion into fibers. Degradation and dynamic mechanical thermal analyses showed that the addition of the iron oxide nanopowder increased the polymer’s glass transition temperature (T_g) and its modulus but had no notable effect on its degradation rate in PBS buffer solution. IA-MDT in vitro experiments were carried out with the nanocomposite magnetic fiber molded into a stent coil. These stent prototypes were used in the presence of a homogeneous magnetic field of 0.3 T to capture 100 nm magnetic drug carrier particles (MDCPs) from an aqueous solution. Increasing the amount of magnetite in the stent nanocomposite (0, 10 and 40 w/w%) resulted in an increase in the MDCP capture efficiency (CE). Reducing the MDCP concentrations (0.75 and 1.5 mg/mL) in the flowing fluid and increasing the fluid velocities (20 and 40 mL/min) both resulted in decrease in the MDCP CE. These results show that the particle capture performance of PLGA-based, magnetic nanocomposite stents are similar to those exhibited by a variety of different non-polymeric magnetic stent materials studied previously.