Biocompatible superparamagnetic ferrite nanoparticles are a type of nanotechnology that has shown great promise in the treatment of cancer by hyperthermia. These nanoparticles are typically composed of iron oxide and are superparamagnetic, meaning that they exhibit strong magnetic properties only when exposed to an external magnetic field.
One of the key advantages of these nanoparticles is their biocompatibility, which means that they are non-toxic and do not harm healthy cells in the body. In cancer treatment, these nanoparticles can be designed to specifically target tumor cells, allowing for a more targeted and effective therapy.
Hyperthermia treatment involves heating the tumor cells to temperatures above normal body temperature, which causes the cancer cells to die. The superparamagnetic properties of these nanoparticles make them particularly effective for this purpose, as they can be easily heated by exposure to an alternating magnetic field, thereby selectively killing cancer cells while sparing healthy cells.
Furthermore, these nanoparticles can also be used for drug delivery, allowing for targeted delivery of chemotherapy agents directly to tumor cells. Overall, biocompatible superparamagnetic ferrite nanoparticles show great potential in the development of new and innovative cancer therapies.
The word "nanomaterials" consists of two words i.e. nano and material. The size of materials whose
dimensions are equal or less than 100 nm is said to be nanomaterial. These materials have been
the subject of numerous investigations in the past two decades due to their unique
properties and have a technological impact on future generation devices. It has been
known that materials exhibit some remarkable properties at nanoscale those are
different from its macro-scale size.
There is a drastic change in physical, chemical, magnetic, electrical, optical,
electronic, and mechanical properties which are further size-dependent. This happens due to
unusual properties at nanoscale viz., large surface to volume ratio of atoms,
quantum confinement, high chemical reactivity, presence of dangling bonds.
