Human Adipose Derived Stem Cells and Osteoblasts Interaction with Fe–Cr–Nb–B Magnetic Nanoparticles

The use of materials at nanoscale is currently of increasing interest for life sciences and medicine. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are under scrutiny for a large array of applications in nanomedicine as diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Proprietary Fe–Cr–Nb–B MNPs display heating properties that recommends them as potent agents for delivery of local hyperthermia for the treatment of solid tumours. Stem cell mediated delivery represents a safe and accurate modality to target remote or metastatic tumour sites. In this study we investigated the interaction of Fe–Cr–Nb–B nanoparticles with human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells and human primary osteoblasts. We found that: (a) bare and chitosan coated Fe–Cr–Nb–B are internalized by both cell types, (b) they can be detected up to 28 days inside the cells without signs of membrane disruption and (c) they do not display in vitro toxicity. MNPs are uploaded by cells in a time dependent manner with maximum uptake after 7–8 days cell-particle incubation. Particle internalization do not interfere with proliferative and differentiation potential (osteogenesis and adipogenesis) demonstrating an unaltered cellular phenotype. Further investigation of the potential effect of MNPs internalization on cytoskeleton dynamics and in inducing oxidative stress will be required as it is of interest for predicting cell migration and survival after transplantation. Present results are encouraging for designing a stemcell mediated delivery of Fe–Cr–Nb–B magnetic nanoparticles to solid tumour sites for hyperthermia applications.