Inorganic-organic magnetic nanocomposites for use in preventive medicine: a rapid and reliable elimination system for cesium.

Purpose: To investigate the potential use of Prussian blue-coated magnetic nanoparticles, termed "Prussian blueberry", to bring about the magnetic elimination of cesium.

Methods: Prussian blueberry were prepared by a layer-by-layer assembly method. The morphology, structure and physical properties of the Prussian blueberry were investigated as was their ability to magnetically eliminate cesium.

Results: We confirmed that Prussian blueberry were composed of a magnetite nanoparticle-core and a Prussian blue-shell. Under a magnetic field, Prussian blueberry (5 mg) reduced the cesium concentration of seawater (3 ml) from 150 ppm to about 50 ppm; but regular Prussian blue could not magnetically eliminate cesium. Moreover, Prussian blueberry removed a similar proportion of cesium from a larger volume of seawater, and from fetal bovine serum and cow's milk.

Conclusions: Under a magnetic field, Prussian blueberry was able to rapidly eliminate cesium from seawater and from biological matrices such as serum and milk.