Absence of enhanced uptake of fluorescent magnetic particles into human liver cells in a strong magnetic field gradient

TL;DR

This study tested whether a strong magnetic field gradient could enhance the uptake of fluorescent magnetic nanoparticles into human liver cells, but found no significant increase despite applying a force much greater than gravity.

Contribution

The paper provides experimental evidence that a strong magnetic field gradient does not necessarily increase nanoparticle uptake in human liver cells.

Findings

No significant increase in particle uptake under magnetic force

Magnetic force exceeded gravity by 25 times

Magnetic field did not enhance cellular internalization

Abstract

We investigated whether we can detect enhanced magnetic nanoparticle uptake under application of a large magnetic force by tagging the particles with a fluorescent dye. Human liver cells were cultured in a micro-channel slide and exposed to two types of magnetic nanoparticles with a diameter of 100 nm at a concentration of 10000 particles/cell for 24 hours. Even though we achieved a magnetic force that exceeded the gravitational force by a factor of 25, we did not observe a statistically significant increase of immobilised particles per cell.