External magnetic fields affect the biological impacts of superparamagnetic iron nanoparticles

Abstract Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are recognized as one of the promising nanomaterials for applications in various field of nanomedicine such as targeted imaging/drug delivery, tissue engineering, hyperthermia, and gene therapy. Besides their suitable biocompatibility, SPIONs’ unique magnetic properties make them an outstanding candidate for theranostic nanomedicine. Very recent progress in the field revealed that the presence of external magnetic fields may cause considerable amount of SPIONs’ agglomeration in their colloidal suspension. As variation of physicochemical properties of colloidal nanoparticles has strong effect on their biological outcomes, one can expect that the SPIONs’ agglomeration in the presence of external magnetic fields could change their well-recognized biological impacts. In this case, here, we probed the cellular uptake and toxicity of the SPIONs before and after exposure to external magnetic fields. We found that the external magnetic fields can affect the biological outcome of magnetic nanoparticles.