Magnetic liposomes.An interesting approach for targeted drug delivery under the action of magnetic field
is the use of liposomes loaded with a drug and a ferromagnetic material. In one example, magnetic liposomes containing doxorubicin were intravenously
administered to osteosarcoma-bearing hamsters.
When the tumour-implanted limb was placed between
two poles of a 0.4 Tesla magnet, the application of the
field for 60 minutes resulted in a fourfold increase in
drug concentration in the tumour175. In the same
osteosarcoma model in which the magnet was
implanted into the tumour, magnetic liposomes
loaded with adriamycin demonstrated better accumulation in tumour vasculature and resulted in enhanced
tumour-growth inhibition176. Intravenous injection in
rats of liposomes loaded with 99mTc-albumin and magnetite resulted in a 25-fold increase in accumulated
radioactivity in the right kidney, near which a SmCo