Potentialities of silica/alginate nanoparticles as hybrid magnetic carriers.

The possibility to associate traditional bio-organic capsules, such as polymer nanoparticles or liposomes, with silica has been recently demonstrated, opening the route to the design of novel nanocomposites that exhibit promising properties as drug carriers. In this context, we describe here the elaboration of silica/alginate nanoparticles incorporating magnetic iron oxide colloids and fluorescent carboxy-fluoroscein. These nanocomposites were characterized by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements. The release of the fluorophore was investigated in vitro and was demonstrated to occur in 3T3 fibroblast cells. Further grafting of organic moieties on particle surface is also described. These data suggest that hybrid nanoparticles are flexible platforms for the developments of multi-functional bio-capsules.