| Posted: February 20, 2007 |
Labeling cells with magnetic nanoparticles |
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(Nanowerk News) Investigators at the German Cancer Research Center have developed silica-coated iron oxide nanoparticles that allow for cell tracking in a live animal using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). More sensitive methods for tracking cells in vivo could lead to a better understanding of how cancer spreads throughout the body or how the immune system reacts to tumors.
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Fabian Kiessling, Ph.D., led this study, whose initial stages involved preparing iron oxide nanoparticles and coating them with an ultrathin layer of various silicon-containing chemicals. During this part of their study ("Silica- and alkoxysilane-coated ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide particles: a promising tool to label cells for magnetic resonance imaging."), the investigators determined that the nature of this coating had a profound impact on the magnetic properties of the resulting nanoparticle. Only those coated with silicon dioxide retained the optimal magnetic properties needed to generate the strongest MRI signal per particle.
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Next, the researchers determined that cells will take up these silicon dioxide-coated iron oxide particles in sufficient quantities to produce an observable MRI signal. One interesting result from these experiments was that cells appear to use a different mechanism to take up these small nanoparticles than they do to take up the larger dextran-coated iron oxide particles now being used in clinical MRI studies.
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