Analysis of Trajectories for Targeting of Magnetic Nanoparticles in Blood Vessels

The technique of magnetic drug targeting deals with binding drugs or genetic material to superparamagnetic nanoparticles and accumulating these complexes via an external magnetic field in a target region. For a successful approach, it is necessary to know the required magnetic setup as well as the physical properties of the complexes. With the help of computational methods, the complex accumulation and behavior can be predicted. We present a model for vascular targeting with a full three-dimensional analysis of the magnetic and fluidic forces and a subsequent evaluation of the resulting trajectories of the complexes. These trajectories were calculated with respect to the physiological boundary conditions, the magnetic properties of both the external field and the particles as well as the hydrodynamics of the fluid. We paid special regard to modeling input parameters like flow velocity as well as the distribution functions of the hydrodynamic size and magnetic moment of the nanoparticle complexes. We are able to estimate the amount of complexes, as well as the spatial distribution of those complexes. Additionally, we examine the development of the trapping rate for multiple passages of the complexes and compare the influence of several input parameters. Finally, we provide experimental data of an ex vivo flow-loop system which serves as a model for large vessel targeting. In this model, we achieve a deposition of lentivirus/magnetic nanoparticle complexes in a murine aorta and compare our simulation with the experimental results gained by a non-heme-iron assay.