Remote regulation of magnetic particle targeted Wnt signaling for bone tissue engineering

Schematic illustration of a magnetic nanoparticle and the process of labeling and stimulation of MNP labeled cells or delivery of MNP labeled cells to ex vivo femurs (C). MNP are first functionalized with targeting ligands such as peptides (A). Cells are then labeled with functionalized MNP which can then be stimulated with oscillating magnetic fields in vitro to initiate receptor clustering and signaling activation (B). Alternatively cell-MNP suspensions can be injected into tissue engineering models such as the fetal chick femur and stimulated to regulate bone formation ex vivo (C).58