Magnetic Silicone Composites with Uniform Nanoparticle Dispersion as a Biomedical Stent Coating for Hyperthermia

Abstract

Magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) offer some attractive possibilities in the field of medicine such as magnetic separation for purification and immunoassay and hyperthermia treatment of cancer. Hyperthermia uses the thermal energy adsorbed by magnetite NPs to kill cancer cells. Concerns regarding esophageal cancer treatment by hyperthermia are related to the development of an advanced film as a polymeric stent cover for hyperthermia. In this paper, we tried to confer the hyperthermia function to the stent cover by the composition of magnetite NPs with a silicone rubber film. Herein, we fabricated the hybrid composite of magnetite NPs and a silicone matrix with a uniform particle dispersion. Forty percent of magnetite NPs could be dispersed in silicone matrices, which was confirmed in the scale of hundreds of nanometers by transmission electron microscopy. The composition could be possible via the surface modification of magnetite NPs with oleic acid in the silicone rubber, which was identified by the analysis of FT-IR. Plasma treatment of the composite film transforms the hydrophobicity of the film to the hydrophlicity. The hyperthermia effect of the composite film increased temperature from 36 to 42 degrees C. Moreover, our manufacturing strategy could readily control the thickness of the smooth composite film, facilitate large-scale synthesis, and enable multifunctionalization. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 32: E714E723, 2013; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/adv.21314