Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for bio-medical applications

The development of functionalized nanoparticles has made it possible to design target specific markers for detecting morphological and physiological changes in vivo using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The proposed technique is very useful for detecting tumors and can even be used for detecting metabolic functional alterations in the brain such as epileptic activity. Nonionic surfactant coated superparamagnetic nanoparticles with narrow size distribution were prepared by chemical coprecipitation method as a diagnostic tracer for MRI imaging. Imaging results indicate that the nanoparticles have a superparamagnetic property that is detectable in an MRI scanner, thus to be a suitable substrate for MR contrast agents.