A new approach for the in vitro identification of the cytotoxicity of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are increasingly used in medical applications, such as targeting delivery and imaging. In the future, patients are more likely to be exposed to pharmaceutical products containing such particles. The study of toxicity of SPIONs has become of great importance in recent years, although the published data in this arena is limited. The aim of the present work is to investigate the cytotoxicity of SPIONs and the effect of the particles on the cell medium components. For this purpose, uncoated and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) coated SPIONs with narrow size distribution were synthesized via a well-known coprecipitation method. The mouse fibroblast cell line L929 was exposed to SPIONs to probe the toxicity of magnetic nanoparticles during the bio application. Changes to the cell medium caused by SPIONs were analyzed with zeta potential measurements, ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV/vis) and the 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. It is observed that gas vesicles are formed in SPION-treated cells. Toxicity is conventionally explained by changes in the DMEM's pH and composition due to the tendency of SPIONs to interact with biomolecules. A new procedure is proposed to examine the in vitro toxicity of nanoparticles in a more rigorous manner, which gives an improvement in the relationship between in vivo and in vitro toxicity studies.