Self-Assembled Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoclusters for Universal Cell Labeling and MRI

Shuzhen Chen; Jun Zhang; Shengwei Jiang; Gan Lin; Bing Luo; Huan Yao; Yuchun Lin; Chengyong He; Gang Liu; Zhongning Lin

doi:10.1186/s11671-016-1479-5

Self-Assembled Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoclusters for Universal Cell Labeling and MRI

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2016 Dec;11(1):263. doi: 10.1186/s11671-016-1479-5. Epub 2016 May 23.

Authors

Shuzhen Chen¹, Jun Zhang^{2

3}, Shengwei Jiang², Gan Lin², Bing Luo², Huan Yao², Yuchun Lin², Chengyong He², Gang Liu⁴, Zhongning Lin⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Xiamen Medical College, Xiamen, 361008, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Center for Molecular Imaging and Translational Medicine, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China.
³ Sichuan Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637007, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Center for Molecular Imaging and Translational Medicine, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China. gangliu.cmitm@xmu.edu.cn.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Center for Molecular Imaging and Translational Medicine, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China. linzhn@xmu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles have been widely used in a variety of biomedical applications, especially as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cell labeling. In this study, SPIO nanoparticles were stabilized with amphiphilic low molecular weight polyethylenimine (PEI) in an aqueous phase to form monodispersed nanocomposites with a controlled clustering structure. The iron-based nanoclusters with a size of 115.3 ± 40.23 nm showed excellent performance on cellular uptake and cell labeling in different types of cells, moreover, which could be tracked by MRI with high sensitivity. The SPIO nanoclusters presented negligible cytotoxicity in various types of cells as detected using MTS, LDH, and flow cytometry assays. Significantly, we found that ferritin protein played an essential role in protecting stress from SPIO nanoclusters. Taken together, the self-assembly of SPIO nanoclusters with good magnetic properties provides a safe and efficient method for universal cell labeling with noninvasive MRI monitoring capability.

Keywords: Biocompatibility; Cell labeling; MRI; Nanoclusters; SPIO.