One concern in the design of such particles is the loading and release profiles of therapeutics, requiring tuning of pore sizes to achieve desired release. Iron oxide and polymer-coated iron oxide particles have been explored for MRI imaging of cardiovascular systems due to their paramagnetic properties.40 41 Iron oxide particles can be used as a contrast agent for both magnetic resonance and X-ray imaging modalities, opening the possibility of overlaying images from dual sources and thus allowing more detailed analysis of affected tissues. Particle Size Physical characteristics of drug or imaging carriers,

including size and shape, will determine Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical how these particles localize to the blood vessel wall in flow. Spheres in the nanometer to micrometer range made from many types of materials have been broadly explored as injectable drug carriers and imaging agents due to their ease of fabrication. Nanospheres are attractive for intravenous injection routes as they are more

likely to clear the microcirculation, particularly in the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical lungs, since the smallest human capillaries are on the order of 5 microns. This constraint imposed by the capillaries eliminates larger spherical particles made from rigid materials due to the risk of vascular occlusion. Additionally, learn more nanoparticles are less likely to be internalized by macrophages than microspheres Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical possessing diameters from 2 to 3 μm.42 This is possibly due to the fact that the opsonization rate with serum proteins decreases with particle size.43

It has been recently reported, however, that microspheres with diameters ranging from 2 to 5 microns display significantly higher localization and binding to inflamed endothelial cell monolayers from Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical bulk human blood flow than nanospheres with diameters from 100 to 500 nm as shown in Figure 2.44 This may be due to the impact of particle size on their interactions with red blood cells (RBCs). Larger particles (>2 μm in diameter) are preferentially excluded from the middle of blood flow and pushed to the wall, but nanospheres are Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical likely small enough that they comfortably Metalloexopeptidase fit in the pocket between RBCs.45 It is likely that smaller nanoparticles, particularly in the tens-of-nanometers size range, are able to partition into plasma and show improved localization to the wall in bulk blood flow. However, the small size limits their utility for drug delivery due to a low capacity for carrying drugs.46 47 Figure 2. Adhesion of nano/microspheres to activated endothelium from blood flow in a parallel plate flow chamber with a step channel. Blood flow is pulsatile between 120s-1 for 4 seconds and 1200s-1 for 2s over 5 minutes. Channel height at the entrance=127 μm … Efficiency of transport to the blood vessel wall where the particles may then adhere is more important for targeted drug delivery.