Human Pulmonary Mesenchymal Stem Cells (HPMSC)

Effect of Fe₃O₄@Au Nanoparticles on the Cell Viability of HPMSCs

Targeted delivery of nanoparticles to the unreachable tumors is one of the main problems in nanomedicine. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are capable of actively homing into the tumors and release the loaded antitumor agents/nanomaterials. Combining radiosensitizing agents with MSCs is a promising cancer strategy. Arcambal et al. assessed whether Fe₃O₄@Au nanoparticles can modulate human pulmonary MSCs (HPMSCs) to serve as carriers for radiosensitizers.

To select an appropriate Fe₃O₄@Au NPs concentration for further studies, mitochondrial metabolic activity and cell death were evaluated. Fe₃O₄@Au NPs did not have a significant effect on mitochondrial activity at 24 h, but markedly decreased it at 500 µg/mL after 48 and 72 h (Fig. 1A-C). At the same time, after 48 h of incubation, cells treated with 200 µg/mL NPs were significantly affected (Fig. 1B), and an increase in the mitochondrial activity was observed at 50 µg/mL after 72 h (Fig. 1C). Cell counting confirmed these results. Fe₃O₄@Au NPs significantly reduced cell viability at 500 µg/mL after 24, 48, and 72 h (Fig. 1D-F) and were toxic at 200 µg/mL after 72 h (Fig. 1F). Fe₃O₄@Au NPs at concentrations of 10-100 µg/mL were not significant for HPMSCs.