Calculation of nanoparticle capture efficiency in magnetic drug targeting

The implant assisted magnetic targeted drug delivery system of Aviles, Ebner and Ritter, which uses high gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) is considered. In this 2D model large ferromagnetic particles are implanted as seeds to aid collection of multiple domain nanoparticles (radius approximate to 200 nm). Here, in contrast, single domain magnetic nanoparticles (radius in 20-100 nm) are considered and the Langevin function is used to describe the magnetization. Simulations based on this model were performed using the open source C + + finite volume library OpenFOAM. The simulations indicate that use of the Langevin function predicts greater collection efficiency than might be otherwise expected. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.