Several advancements have been made in the last two decades for targeting d
rugs to a specific area in the human body. Liposomes, resealed erythrocyte
ghost preparations, antibody mediated drug targeting to specific cancer cel
ls have become popular means of drug targeting. However all these methods a
re associated with several practical problems and involve tedious developme
nt stages. In the past few years, this group has been involved in developin
g the usage of magnetic particles as suitable carriers for delivering drugs
. This method of drug delivery ensures site-specific action as well as, eas
y to develop and use technology. Clot lytic agents like streptokinase, urok
inase or tissue plasminogen activator are traditionally used for treating t
hrombosis, One of the major problems associated with this treatment is its
nonspecific and undirected thrombolytic activity. Using magnetic fluids, as
carriers for above enzymes would ensure specificity of action, reduction i
n amount and time of action of the drug with no side effects. This line of
action could be used in treating peripheral and coronary occlusive diseases
. The process of hysteresis can be utilized to develop heat in magnetic flu
ids and this can be used to induce hyperthermia to treat tissues/cells, esp
ecially in oncology. This, in addition to delivering anticancer drugs via m
agnetic particles could prove to be an excellent line of treatment for canc
er chemotherapy. Phase I clinical trials using reversibly bound anticancer
drug epirubicin were done, and it was found that the ferrofluid could be su
ccessfully directed to the tumors in about one-half of the patients Present
studies have shown that proteins can be bound to magnetic particles withou
t losing their biological properties. Some of the enzymes immobilized by us
have been found to retain almost 90% of their activity. The same principle
could be used to deliver anticancer and thrombolytic drugs, which have bee
n entrapped in protein microspheres, These can be targeted to tumor cells b
y an external magnetic field so that it can deliver the drug slowly and in
the required amount at the same time avoiding side effects associated with
these drugs. The applications of magnetic fluids in other fields are also m
anifold. Magnetic for isolating mRNA are quicker and more efficient, and th
ey avoid organic solvents and the need for a precipitation step. Magnetic b
eads linked to high affinity capture antibodies have been widely accepted a
s separation techniques of specific target ligands or particles such as bac
teria or leukocytes from complex mixtures, such as bone marrow, blood and o
ther body fluids. Detection of contaminating microorganisms like staphyloco
ccus sp. In milk using a magnetic based ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent
Assay) has been developed. It is also proposed to use this technology to im
mobilize polymixin B antibiotic for the treatment of endotoxic shock. The e
xtreme toxicity of this antibiotic could be avoided using dialysis to remov
e the magnetically bound antibiotic, from systematic circulation, after its
action. could be avoided using dialysis to remove the mag Similarly using
magnetically immobilized antifungal agent amphoterecin, for systemic applic
ation, could reduce toxicity of this antifungal agent. Investigating the us
e of magnetically immobilized Horseshoe crab protein for combating endotoxi
c shock could also prove to be an effective line of treatment. Using magnet
ic particles as such or erythrocyte ghost preparations of the same could be
used as an opaque medium in angiography and radiography techniques. In add
ition to this, using magnetically immobilized microorganisms for wastewater
treatment is an extremely cost effective technology.