Polysaccharide-Coated Magnetic Nanoparticles for Imaging and Gene Therapy

Table 1

Properties of polysaccharides commonly used for coating or encapsulation of MNPs.

Polysaccharide	Natural source	Charge	Functional; groups
Alginate	Distributed widely in the cell walls of brown algae	Negative	OH; COOH
Chitosan	From the exoskeletons of shrimp and other crustaceans treated with sodium hydroxide	Positive	OH; NH2
Dextran	First discovered by Louis Pasteur as a microbial product in wine	Neutral	OH
Hyaluronic acid	Distributed widely throughout connective, epithelial, and neural tissues	Negative	OH; COOH
Heparin	Extracted from animal tissues	Negative	OH; OSO3H
Mannan	Plant polysaccharide a form of storage polysaccharide	Neutral	OH
Pullulan	Produced from starch by the fungus Aureobasidium pullulans	Neutral	OH
Starch	Produced by most green plants to store energy	Neutral	OH