Magneto-Mechanically Triggered Thick Films for Drug Delivery Micropumps
Georgiana Dolete,
Cristina Chircov,
Ludmila Motelica,
Denisa Ficai,
Ovidiu-Cristian Oprea,
Marin Gheorghe,
Anton Ficai,
Ecaterina Andronescu
Affiliations
Georgiana Dolete
Department of Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnologies, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu 1-7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Cristina Chircov
Department of Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnologies, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu 1-7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Ludmila Motelica
Department of Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnologies, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu 1-7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Denisa Ficai
National Center for Micro and Nanomaterials, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Splaiul Independentei 313, 060042 Bucharest, Romania
Ovidiu-Cristian Oprea
National Center for Micro and Nanomaterials, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Splaiul Independentei 313, 060042 Bucharest, Romania
Marin Gheorghe
SC NANOMEMS SRL, George Coșbuc 9, 505400 Râșnov, Romania
Anton Ficai
Department of Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnologies, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu 1-7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Ecaterina Andronescu
Department of Science and Engineering of Oxide Materials and Nanomaterials, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnologies, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu 1-7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Given the demanding use of controlled drug delivery systems, our attention was focused on developing a magnetic film that can be triggered in the presence of a magnetic field for both drug delivery and the actuating mechanism in micropump biomedical microelectromechanical systems (BioMEMS). Magnetic alginate films were fabricated in three steps: the co-precipitation of iron salts in an alkaline environment to obtain magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4), the mixing of the obtained nanoparticles with a sodium alginate solution containing glycerol as a plasticizer and folic acid as an active substance, and finally the casting of the final solution in a Petri dish followed by cross-linking with calcium chloride solution. Magnetite nanoparticles were incorporated in the alginate matrix because of the well-established biocompatibility of both materials, a property that would make the film convenient for implantable BioMEMS devices. The obtained film was analyzed in terms of its magnetic, structural, and morphological properties. To demonstrate the hypothesis that the magnetic field can be used to trigger drug release from the films, we studied the release profile in an aqueous medium (pH = 8) using a NdFeB magnet as a triggering factor.
