In vitro and in vivo experiments with functionalized SPIONs for medical applications

M.L. MOJICA PISCIOTTI; E. LIMA JR.; M. VASQUEZ MANSILLA; V.E. TOGNOLI; H.E. TROIANI; ANDRE A. PASA; T.B. CRECZYNSKI-PASA; A.H. SILVA; P. GURMAN; L. COLOMBO; G.F. GOYA; A. LAMAGNA; R.D. ZYSLER

Dresden

Conferencia; 10th International Conference on the Scientific and Clinical Applications of Magnetic Carriers; 2014

Comité organizador Scientific and Clinical Applications of Magnetic Carriers

The potential of magnetic nanoparticles as medical tools is one of the most promising up-and-coming alternatives for cancer treatments. Their use in applications such as drug delivery, gene therapy and hyperthermia among others is a topic of great interest. In this research work, Fe3O4 superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) with narrow size distribution were synthetized by a thermal decomposition process. As a result, well-crystalline SPIONs were formed with d=18 nm and σ=2 nm. Then, the SPIONs surface was modified to make them hydrophilic ones by a post-synthesis procedure and they were functionalized with DEXTRAN and polyethylene glycol (PEG). The nanoparticles presented high saturation magnetization and superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature, and the hydrodynamic diameters of DEXTRAN- and PEG-coated SPIONs were measured as 170 and 120 nm, respectively. To quantify the DEXTRAN- and PEG-coated SPIONs response to the heating process, the specific power absorption (SPA) were measured in an AC magnetic field with amplitude of 13 kA/m and frequency of 256 kH , giving 400 and 320 W/g respectively.Additionally, the SPIONs biodistribution was assessed and in vitro studies using VERO and MDCK cell lineages were performed to study the cytotoxicity and cell uptake of the SPIONs. For both cell lineages, PEG- and DEXTRAN-coated nanoparticles presented high cell viability for concentrations as high as 200 g/mL. In vivo studies were conducted using BALB/c mice inoculating the SPIONs intravenously and exposing them to the presence of an external magnet located over the tumor. It was observed that the amount of PEG-coated SPIONs in the tumor increased up to 160% when using the external permanent magnet as opposed to those animals that were not exposed to the external magnetic field. So, the enhancing of the uptake of these functionalized SPIONs is achieved for the conditions described.