Physicochemical characteristics of magnetic microspheres containing tissue plasminogen activator

As a first step toward improving the treatment of stroke, we are developing a magnetic carrier system to target tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) to a thrombosis. We report the characterization of biodegradable microspheres containing tPA and magnetic iron oxide. The resultant microspheres were superparamagnetic with a magnetization of 6.9-8.7 emu/g. We encapsulated 5% tPA by mass which eluted from the microspheres to produce a solution concentration of 5.3-19.6 mu g/mL in tPA, which exceeds the theoretical thrombolysis concentration. Although smaller microspheres will be necessary for in vivo experiments, we have shown that sufficient tPA can be encapsulated and released in a magnetic matrix. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.