Evaluation of the toxicity of magnetic nanoparticles used as teranóstico agents in the treatment of cancer

• Grant number: 14/06694-7
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2014
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Condensed Matter Physics
• Principal researcher: Juliana Cancino Bernardi
• Grantee: Cristiane Casonato Melo
• Home Institution: Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In the last years, nanotechnology started to be part of the day-by-day of the modern society, not only because of the contact with products that are already in the market, but also because of the information given by media. Nanotechnology can be used from areas from engineering to medicine, which make its study and development of great significance. Metallica nanoparticles have been highlighted in medicine because of their great characteristics flexibility. In the metal nanoparticle group, the nanoparticles of iron oxide core-shell are very interesting as they combine metallic and magnetic properties, which offer wide applications. However, the biggest disadvantage of these nanoparticles is the toxic effect that they may have. With the interest of reducing such effects, this research project has the greatest motivation to synthesize and characterize nanoparticles of iron oxide core-shell and develop and/or enhance the formation of a corona of bovine serum albumin (BSA) to surround the nanoparticles as a strategy to decrease the toxicity. The greatest challenge is to develop stable nanoparticles in the presence of the biomolecule BSA that can be applied photodynamic therapy systems without toxicity, without changing the nanoparticles characteristics. The main contribution of this project is the safe development of nanotechnology, specially applied to medicine, which requires a systematic investigation. Such studies may help in the understanding of the toxicity of nanomaterials at the molecular scale and bring important benefits to the nanomedicine development.