Do Kyung Kim

Characterization and MRI study of surfactant-coated superparamagnetic nanoparticles administered into the rat brain

A pre-clinical studyhas been carried out for the utilization of magnetite (Fe O ) nanoparticles as a diagnostic tracer for MRI. Surfactant-coated Fe O nanoparticles have been synthesized by a chemical coprecipitation method with a narrow particle size of around 6 nm. Preliminaryexperiments demonstrated the feasibilityof using superparamagnetic Fe O nanoparticles as contrast agents in MR imaging. 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Nanocomposites of polymer and inorganic nanoparticles for optical and magnetic applications

This article provides an up-to-date review on nanocomposites composed of inorganic nanoparticles and the polymer matrix for optical and magnetic applications. Optical or magnetic characteristics can change upon the decrease of particle sizes to very small dimensions, which are, in general, of major interest in the area of nanocomposite materials. The use of inorganic nanoparticles into the polymer matrix can provide high-performance novel materials that find applications in many industrial fields. With this respect, frequently considered features are optical properties such as light absorption (UV and color), and the extent of light scattering or, in the case of metal particles, photoluminescence, dichroism, and so on, and magnetic properties such as superparamagnetism, electromagnetic wave absorption, and electromagnetic interference shielding. A general introduction, definition, and historical development of polymer–inorganic nanocomposites as well as a comprehensive review of synthetic techniques for polymer–inorganic nanocomposites will be given. Future possibilities for the development of nanocomposites for optical and magnetic applications are also introduced. It is expected that the use of new functional inorganic nano-fillers will lead to new polymer–inorganic nanocomposites with unique combinations of material properties. By careful selection of synthetic techniques and understanding/exploiting the unique physics of the polymeric nanocomposites in such materials, novel functional polymer–inorganic nanocomposites can be designed and fabricated for new interesting applications such as optoelectronic and magneto-optic applications.

Development of Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles (SPIONS) for Translation to Clinical Applications

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) have attract a great deal of interest in biomedical research and clinical applications over the past decades. Taking advantage the fact that SPIONs only exhibit magnetic properties in the presence of an applied magnetic field, they have been used in both in vitro magnetic separation and in vivo applications such as hyperthermia (HT), magnetic drug targeting (MDT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), gene delivery (GD) and nanomedicine. Successful applications of SPIONs rely on precise control of the particles shape, size, and size distribution and several synthetic routes for preparing SPIONs have been explored. Tailored surface properties specifically designed for cell targeting are often required, although the generic strategy involves creating biocompatible polymeric or non-polymeric coating and subsequent conjugation of bioactive molecules. In this review article, synthetic routes, surface modification and functionaliztion of SPIONs, as well as the major biomedical applications are summarized, with emphasis on in vivo applications.

Nanomedicine for targeted drug delivery

In recent years, nanoparticles have played an ever increasing role in biomedical research and clinical applications. The unique physical properties of nanomaterials are being exploited in the field of nanomedicine for applications as diverse as drug delivery and targeting, MRI contrast enhancement, gene therapy, biomarkers, targeted hyperthermia and many others. This review focuses on the design, synthesis and unique properties of nanoparticles used in nanomedicine as well as on clinical uses for both diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Magnetic resonance tracking of nanoparticle labelled neural stem cells in a rat’s spinal cord

Neural stem cells isolated from an adult rats spinal cord were loaded with superparamagnetic gold-coated monocrystalline iron oxide nanoparticles (Au-MION) intended for use as contrast enhancers in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A dose-dependent attenuation of MRI signals was observed for Au-MION down to 0.001 µg Fe/µl and for nanoparticle-loaded clusters of only 20 cells. The labelled cells were infused into the spinal cord of anaesthetized rats and tracked by MRI at 1 h, 48 h and 1 month post-injection. Histological analysis revealed that MRI signals correlated well with gold-positive staining of transplanted cells. The present results show that Au-MION exerts powerful contrast-enhancing properties and may represent novel MRI labels for labelling and tracking the transplanted cells in vivo.

Energy absorption of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles by microwave irradiation

The main complexity in hyperthermia is generating and controlling the temperature distribution within tumor cells without damaging the normal tissue. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) with a diameter of 11nm were prepared by controlled coprecipitation and coated with oleic acid to prevent agglomeration and flocculation in the solvent. In situ monitoring of the temperature increment was performed to interpret the microwave absorption rate of the SPION dispersed in appropriate host media (polar or nonpolar solvents) during microwave irradiation. This approach allowed for the prediction of heating mechanisms as a result of the excitation of unpaired electrons of iron, effects of coating agents, particle size, and volume fraction (ϕ). The conversion efficiency from microwave irradiation to thermal energy was predicted by applying the conservation of energy to a differential volume. The rates of heat loss and energy absorption were obtained by nonlinear fitting of the experimental data.

Determination of Conjugation Efficiency of Antibodies and Proteins to the Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles by Capillary Electrophoresis with Laser-Induced Fluorescence Detection

The method based on capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection (CE/LIF) was developed for determination of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (hydrodynamic diameters of 100 nm) functionalized with molecules containing primary amino groups. The magnetic nanoparticles with carboxylic or aminopropyl-trimethoxysilane groups at their surface were conjugated to the model proteins (bovine serum albumin, BSA; streptavidin or goat anti-rabbit immunoglobulin G, IgG) using carbodiimide as a zero-length cross-linker.The nanoparticle–protein conjugates (hydrodynamic diameter 163–194 nm) were derivatized with naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde reagent and separated by CE/LIF with a helium–cadmium laser (excitation at 442 nm, emission at 488 nm). The separations were carried out by using a fused-silica capillary (effective length 48 cm, inner diameter 75 um) and 100 mM sodium borate buffer (pH 9.2), the potential was 30 kV. The detection limit for BSA-conjugate was 1.3 pg/10 nl, i.e. about 20 amol. The present method provides an efficient and fast tool for sensitive determination of the efficacy of biomolecular functionalization of magnetic nanoparticles. The CE/LIF technique requires only negligible sample volumes for analysis, which is especially suitable for controlling the process of preparation of functionalized nanoparticles with unique properties aimed to be used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.

Magnetic behavior of coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in ferrofluids

We present a study on the magnetic behavior of nanosized iron oxide particles coated with different surfactants (sodium oleate, PVA and starch) in a ferrofluid. The effect of the coating material, and different particle concentrations in the ferrofluid have been magnetically investigated to determine the effective magnetic particle size and possible interaction. The superparamagnetic iron oxide particles, synthesized by a controlled co-precipitation technique, are found to contain magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) as a main phase with a narrow physical particle size distribution between 6 and 8 nm. The mean effective magnetic size of the particles in different ferrofluid systems are estimated to be around 4-5 nm which is smaller than the physical particle size. On a 10% dilution in the starch coated ferrofluid we observe a decrease in the blocking temperature.

Film Boiling Heat Transfer on a High Temperature Sphere in Nanofluid

Quenching experiments of a high temperature sphere in Al2 O3 nanofluids are conducted to investigate the characteristics of film boiling and compared to those in pure water tests. One stainless steel sphere of 10 mm in diameter at the initial temperatures of 1000∼1400 K was tested in the nanofluids of the volume concentrations from 5 to 20% and the degrees of subcooling from 20 to 80 K. The test results show that film boiling heat fluxes and heat transfer rates in nanofluids were lower than those in pure water. The differences of the film boiling heat transfer rates between pure water and nanofluids become larger when the liquid subcooling decreases. Those results suggest that the presence of nanoparticles in liquid enhances vaporization process during the film boiling. The effects of nanoparticle concentrations of more than 5 vol. % on film boiling appear to be insignificant. However, the minimum heat fluxes tend to decrease when the concentration increases. Direct quenching without film boiling was repeatedly observed when an unwashed sphere was employed for quenching tests in nanofluids. It suggests that nanoparticle deposition on the sphere surface prevents the sphere from forming film around the sphere, which consequently promotes the rapid quenching of the hot sphere.Copyright

Synthesis and magnetic properties of bulk transparent PMMA/Fe-oxide nanocomposites

PMMA/Fe-oxide nanocomposites are fabricated by a chemical method. Monodispersed Fe-oxide nanoparticles are well dispersed in the PMMA matrix by in situ polymerization, resulting in a bulk transparent polymeric nanocomposite. The magnetic behavior of the PMMA/Fe-oxide nanocomposites is investigated. The transparent PMMA/Fe-oxide nanocomposite has potentially interesting magneto-optic applications without compromising the advantages of a lightweight, noncorrosive polymeric material with very high transparency even for bulk samples.