IEC 261 |
| James A. Ritter, Karen D. Daniel, and Armin D. Ebner. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208 |
| One of the problems associated with drug administration is the inability to target a specific area of the body. To reach an acceptable therapeutic level at the desired site, large doses of the drug must be administered even though only a fraction of the dose will actually reach the intended organ or disease site. These high dosages can cause toxic side effects at the non-target organs. One solution to this problem is to develop drug delivery materials that can physically direct the drug to the desired site. Incorporating magnetic particles into drug carriers and using an externally applied magnetic field is one way to physically direct the drug carriers. One limitation associated with magnetic drug delivery is the influence of blood flow rate at the target site on the accumulation of drug carriers. While studies in the literature have shown that it is possible to retain microspheres in tissues at relatively low magnetic fields of 0.01 to 0.5 T, the feasibility of retaining microspheres in large arteries with this magnetic field strength has not been demonstrated. The linear velocity of blood in large arteries is approximately 60 times faster than the blood flow in capillaries (about 0.5 cm/s) and therefore a much stronger magnetic field would be required to retain magnetic drug carriers in large arteries. Another problem associated with magnetic drug delivery is the depth of the targeted site. Sites that are more than 2 cm deep in the body are difficult to target because the strength of the magnetic field decreases with distance. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce some novel concepts based on high gradient magnetic separation that may allow for the effective guidance of magnetic particles through the blood stream to the targeted site. The proof of concept of these ideas will be demonstrated based on simulations carried out with the FemLab software package. |
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Magnetic-Field-Enhanced Separation and Related Processes (sponsored by Separation Science & Technology Subdivision)
1:30 PM-4:50 PM, Thursday, March 27, 2003 Convention Center -- Room 393, Oral
Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry |