Table 1.

The distribution of MNPs in organs and tissues, depending on their size.

Particle Size	Target	Accumulation	Excretion	References
<10 nm		Lymph nodes	Urine, feces	[75]
10 nm		Liver, kidney, lung, spleen		[76]
5–20 nm		Lymph nodes	Urine, feces	[77]
>40 nm Large superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles		Liver (80%), spleen (15%)	Liver (80%), spleen (15%)	[78]
<50 nm		Macrophages, RES		[79]
Dendrimers G4 @ IONP		Kidneys, liver, lungs, tumor		[33]
50 nm Ferromagnetic particles, coated with SiO2		Liver, spleen, lungs, testicles, kidneys, heart, brain		[60]
200 nm Ferromagnetic particles		Opsonization	Liver, spleen, lung, bone marrow macrophages	[80]
Non-biodegradable inorganic and polymeric micrometric spheres		Opsonization	Liver, spleen, lung, bone marrow macrophages	[81]
A cobalt-ferrite nanoparticle-AS1411 aptamer, 50 nm	Nucleolin	Breast tumor		[82]
A cobalt-ferrite nanoparticle–uMUC-1 aptamer, 50 nm	Underglycosylated mucin-1 (uMUC-1)	Tumor cells		[83]
Fe3O4@Au-AS1411 aptamer	Nucleolin	Breast tumor		[84]
Aptαvβ3-MNPs	αvβ3 Integrin	Tumor cells		[85]
Au @ SPION-MUC-1 aptamer	Underglycosylated mucin-1 (uMUC-1)	Colon tumor		[64]
Apt-MNPs	VEGFR2	Glioblastoma		[86]
USPIO-VEGF165-aptamer	VEGF165	Tumor		[87]
USPIO-AP613-1	glypican-3 (GPC3)	Hepatocellular carcinoma		[88]
AS-14-GMNPs	fibronectin	Mice Ehlich’s carcinoma		[63]
AS-FrFeAG	Fibronectin for AS-14, Hsc70 for As-42	Mice Ehlich’s carcinoma		[66]