As with any nanoparticle synthesis protocol, the purity of the reactant chemicals is critical for achieving high quality SPIONs that will have minimal cytotoxic effects. It is therefore important to purchase very pure reagents including oleic acid (≥99%), iron(II) chloride tetrahydrate (≥99.99%), iron(III) chloride (≥99.99%), ethyl acetate (HPLC grade, ≥99.9%), hexane (HPLC grade, ≥97.0%), ammonium hydroxide (≥99.99%), and sodium sulfate (≥99.0%). It is of particular importance to purchase very pure and high quality PLGA, which can be relatively expensive. In addition, all glassware must be thoroughly washed with hydrochloric acid, deionized water, and ethyl alcohol and allowed to dry before use.
Similarly, the purification and washing steps within the protocol are critical to ensure the final SPIONs will be of high quality and have minimal cytotoxic effects. The magnetite gel must be free of as much ammonium hydroxide, water, and hexane as possible before coating with PLGA. Accordingly, much of the protocol is devoted to ensuring the purity of the magnetite gel. Subsequently, the PLGA-magnetite SPIONs must be free of ethyl acetate, Pluronic, and excess PLGA. The final SPION washing steps are the most time consuming portion of the protocol, but must be completed to ensure high purity. Specifically, magnetic collection of the particles during each washing step can be very time consuming. Stirring the solution can greatly increase the speed of particle collection, but magnetic stir bars cannot be used. Overhead stirrers operating at a low speed are the most effective means for rapid particle collection. Ensure a large brownish collection of SPIONs appears at the magnet and the solution appears white or clear before decanting. This can often require several hours of stirring, but will result in a higher final yield. The magnetic decantation steps also serve to ensure only magnetic particles are retained while all non-magnetic materials are discarded.
Excessive iron levels can be cytotoxic, so the amount of magnetic mass that can be imparted to a cell using this technique is limited. The concentration of iron may need to be decreased for particularly sensitive cell types or increased for particularly weak magnetic fields, but the protocol described here provides a proven starting point to balance safety and efficacy. The SPIONs synthesized by this protocol are made from a solution with a 1:15 ratio by mass of magnetite to PLGA and the SPIONs are introduced to cells at a concentration of 200 µg/ml of cell culture medium. Either of these parameters can be adjusted to alter the quantity of iron endocytosed by each cell as necessary.
SPIONs are safe for human implantation and will biodegrade over time (half-life of approximately 40-50 days)31. Both the magnetite and PLGA form harmless degradation products and are cleared from the body via natural pathways32. The biodegradable nature of the SPIONs means any cytotoxic effects will diminish with time, but also limits the potential applications to those that do not require cells to maintain their magnetic properties beyond a few months. SPIONs also have the advantage of labeling cells and imparting their magnetic effects without the need for surface proteins nor targeting ligands that are susceptible to the formation of a protein corona upon exposure to the biological milieu33,34.
Imparting magnetic properties to cells is useful for a broad array of biomedical applications requiring targeted cell delivery or sorting29. A variety of cell types have demonstrated the ability to safely endocytose SPIONs including mesenchymal stem cells35, endothelial progenitor cells36, beta islet cells37, and neural stem cells38. Magnetic cell targeting may be preferred over other cell targeting techniques when a high degree of control over the delivery conditions is necessary.