Magnetic‐fluid‐loadedliposomes (MFLs) of optimized magnetic responsiveness are newly worked out from the entrapment of superparamagnetic maghemite nanocrystals in submicronic PEG‐ylated rhodamine‐labelled phospholipid vesicles. This nanoplatform provides an efficient tool for the selective magnetic targeting of malignant tumors localized in brain and non‐invasive traceability by MRI through intravascular administration. As assessed by in vivo 7‐T MRI and ex vivo electron spin resonance, 4‐h exposure to 190‐T m–1 magnetic field gradient efficiently concentrates MFLs into human U87 glioblastoma implanted in the striatum of mice. The magnetoliposomes are then longer retained therein as checked by MRI monitoring over a 24‐h period. Histological analysis by confocal fluorescence microscopy confirms the significantly boosted accumulation of MFLs in the malignant tissue up to the intracellular level. Electron transmission microscopy reveals effective internalization by endothelial and glioblastoma cells of the magnetically conveyed MFLs as preserved vesicle structures. The magnetic field gradient emphasizes MFL distribution solely in the tumors according to the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect while comparatively very low amounts are recovered in the other cerebral areas. Such a selective targeting precisely traceable by MRI is promising for therapeutic applications since the healthy brain tissue can be expected to be spared during treatments by deleterious anticancer drugs carried by magnetically guided MFLs.

Ascorbate mobilizes iron from equine spleen ferritin by two separate processes. Ascorbate alone mobilizes ferritin iron with an apparent K ≈1.5mM. Labile iron >2μM, complexed with citrate (10mM), synergises ascorbate-dependent iron mobilization by decreasing the apparent K to ≈270μM and raising maximal mobilization rate by ≈5-fold. Catalase reduces the apparent K for both ascorbate and ascorbate+iron dependent mobilization by ≈80%. Iron mobilization by ascorbate alone has a higher activation energy (E=45.0±5.5kJ/mole) than when mediated by ascorbate with labile iron (10μM) (E=13.7±2.2kJ/mole); also mobilization by iron-ascorbate has a three-fold higher pH sensitivity (pH range 6.0-8.0) than with ascorbate alone. Hydrogen peroxide inhibits ascorbate's iron mobilizing action. EPR and autochemiluminescence studies show that ascorbate and labile iron within ferritin enhances radical formation, whereas ascorbate alone produces negligible radicals. These findings suggest that iron catalysed single electron transfer reactions from ascorbate, involving ascorbate or superoxide and possibly ferroxidase tyrosine radicals, accelerate iron mobilization from the ferroxidase centre more than EPR silent, bi-dentate two-electron transfers. These differing modes of electron transference from ascorbate mirror the known mono and bidentate oxidation reactions of dioxygen and hydrogen peroxide with di-ferrous iron at the ferroxidase centre. This study implies that labile iron, at physiological pH, complexed with citrate, synergises iron mobilization from ferritin by ascorbate (50-4000μM). This autocatalytic process can exacerbate oxidative stress in ferritin-containing inflamed tissue.

To face economic issues of the last ten years, free-radical photopolymerization (FRP) has known an impressive enlightenment. Multiple performing photoinitiating systems have been designed to perform photopolymerizations in the visible or near infrared (NIR) range. To fully understand the photochemical mechanisms involved upon light activation and characterize the nature of radicals implied in FRP, electron paramagnetic resonance coupled to the spin trapping (EPR–ST) method represents one of the most valuable techniques. In this context, the principle of EPR–ST and its uses in free-radical photopolymerization are entirely described.