Biocompatible Hydrogel-Based Liquid Marbles with Magnetosomes

Abstract

Liquid marbles are widely known for their potential biomedical applications, especially due to their versatility and ease of preparation. In the present work, we prepared liquid marbles with various cores composed of water, agar-based hydrogels, magnetic fluids, or non-aqueous substances. As a coating material, we used biocompatible particles of plant origin, such as turmeric grains and Lycopodium pollen. Additionally, we provided marbles with magnetic properties by incorporating either magnetosomes or iron oxide nanoparticles as a powder or by injecting another magnetic fluid. Structures obtained in this way were stable and susceptible to manipulation by an external magnetic field. The properties of the magnetic components of our marbles were verified using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). Our approach to encapsulation of active substances such as antibiotics within a protective hydrogel core opens up new perspectives for the delivery of hydrophobic payloads to the inherently hydrophilic biological environment. Additionally, hydrogel marbles enriched with magnetic materials showed promise as biocompatible heating agents under alternating magnetic fields. A significant innovation of our research was also the fabrication of composite structures in which the gel-like core was surrounded without mixing by a magnetic fluid covered on the outside by the particle shell. Our liquid marbles, especially those with a hydrogel core and magnetic content, due to the ease of preparation and favorable properties, have great potential for biomedical use. The fact that we were able to simultaneously produce, functionalize (by filling with predefined cargo), and manipulate (by means of an external magnetic field) several marbles also seems to be important from an application point of view.

The Influence of Blood and Serum Microenvironment on Spin-Labeled Magnetic Nanoparticles

“…This signal differs between samples depending on the properties of the surface as well as the interaction with the environment. Therefore, the features of the EPR spectra of the magnetic core were different for iron(II,III) oxide nanoparticles functionalized with silane and dextran [10], PEG-coated magnetite nanoparticles in whole human blood [11], chitosan covered magnetite nanoparticles in water and standardized (sodium alginate and calcium chloride) hydrogel [12], or magnetosomes (nanoparticles isolated from the magnetotactic bacteria) dispersed in water or HEPES buffer [13].…”