Abstract 1562: Clusters of circulating tumor cells were selectively isolated in the blood of 12/12 epithelial ovarian cancer patients using facile gravity-flow-based filtration method adapted to clinical use

Background

The presence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in blood is correlated with disease progression in many cancers. Their prognosis value in ovarian cancer is still under debate.1 CTCs are heterogeneous in size and marker expression, and sub-populations with various metastatic potentials have been identified. CTC clusters, although rare and difficult to isolate, have emerged as a possible driver of metastasis owing to ~50-time higher metastatic potential than single CTCs.2 Only few methods have emerged to capture clusters, and are often complex and cumbersome, limiting our understanding of the role of clusters in metastasis. Here, we present a new filtration method for the selective capture of CTC clusters from blood and found clusters in 12/12 epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients.

Method

Cluster capture was performed by filtration using a 3D printed cartridge3 and filters4 with pore diameters of 8, 10, 12, 15, 20 or 28 μm. We developed a gravity-driven process, generating reduced shear stress, and optimized capture using blood (1:6, v/v, in PBS) spiked with OV-90 and OVCAR-3 ovarian cancer single cells and clusters. Blood samples from 12 EOC patients were filtered. Clusters can be stained and imaged on the filter, or released for downstream analysis.

Results

Using the gravity-setup, we were able to selectively capture clusters with good integrity and with a rate that outperforms other technologies to the best of our knowledge. Viable CTC clusters, with 2 to >100 cells, were captured from 12/12 EOC patients. Their size distribution was surprisingly similar between patients. Small clusters (2-3 cells) were the most frequent, and this frequency decreased as their size increased.

The molecular characterization of the captured clusters revealed a low and localized, heterogeneous expression of EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule), in combination with a widespread expression of c-MET (hepatocyte growth factor receptor) in all patients, suggesting a mesenchymal-like profile.

Conclusion

Using the gravity-filtration setup, CTC clusters were captured from the blood of all patients tested, suggesting that clusters are much more widespread than anticipated, and are in fact the norm rather than the exception. The cluster size distribution was conserved between patients with small clusters dominating, and some rare, very large clusters. Cluster staining revealed a mesenchymal profile, in agreement with a higher metastatic potential. Together, these results suggest that clusters should significantly contribute to disease progression, a hypothesis, which may be explored using our facile and selective method.

References

1. Y. Zhou, et al. PLoS ONE 2015, 10, e0130873.

2. N. Aceto, et al. Cell 2014, 158, 1110.

3. A. Meunier, et al. Anal. Chem. 2016, 88, 8510.

4. J. A. Hernandez-Castro, et al. LOC 2017, 17, 1960

Citation Format: Anne Meunier, Sara Kheireddine, J. Alejandro Hernández-Castro, Benjamin Péant, Diane Provencher, Anne-Marie Mes-Masson, Teodor Veres, David Juncker. Clusters of circulating tumor cells were selectively isolated in the blood of 12/12 epithelial ovarian cancer patients using facile gravity-flow-based filtration method adapted to clinical use [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1562.

Note: 4-bounce neutron polarizer for reflectometry applications

A neutron polarizer using four successive reflections on m = 2.5 supermirrors was built and installed at the GINA neutron reflectometer at the Budapest Neutron Centre. This simple setup exhibits 99.6% polarizing efficiency with 80% transmitted intensity of the selected polarization state. Due to the geometry, the higher harmonics in the incident beam are filtered out, while the optical axis of the beam remains intact for easy mounting and dismounting the device in an existing experimental setup.

Rapid Screening and Identification of Living Pathogenic Organisms via Optimized Bioorthogonal Non-canonical Amino Acid Tagging

Pathogenic bacteria can be a major cause of illness from environmental sources as well as the consumption of contaminated products, giving rise to public health concerns globally. The surveillance of such living organisms in food and water supplies remains an important challenge in mitigating their deleterious societal effects. Here, we have developed an optimized bioorthogonal non-canonical amino acid tagging approach to the imaging, capture, and interrogation of shigatoxigenic/verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) and Listeria that enables the distinction between living wild-type pathogenic bacteria. The approaches utilize homopropargylglycine (HPG), as well as optimized growth media, that restricts endogenous methionine biosynthesis in a variety of species of public health concern. Endogenous methionine residues are then replaced with HPG, which can then be modified using a myriad of compatible bioorthogonal reactions for tagging of exclusively live bacteria. The methods reported allow for the very rapid screening and identification of living pathogenic organisms.

Abstract 2912: Size based enrichment and sorting of Ov90 cancer cells and clusters with a new multistage filtration cartridge reveals distinct phenotypes

Background: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are released in blood from the primary tumor, but although very heterogeneous both in size and marker expression, are very rare and provide information not available from the primary tumor. The identification of CTC cells and clusters could advance our understanding of metastasis and help personalize therapy.1,2 Notably, CTC clusters were shown to have a higher metastatic potential than single cells3 but the process remains poorly understood.

We present a multistage filtration system with pore sizes from 20 down to 8 μm for the size-selective enrichment of Ov90 ovarian cancer cells and clusters from blood. Each captured cell population was released, cultured and characterized independently.

Methods: We developed a 3D printed multistage filtration cartridge and polymer filters with 20, 15, 12, 10 and 8 μm-diameter pores. Filters were stacked from 20 (top) to 8 μm (bottom) and used to enrich and sort Ov-90 cells spiked in 1:6 mL of blood:PBS. Captured cells were released by removing individual filters from the cartridge, reverse flowing OSE medium, and then cultured separately.

Results: Ov-90 clusters were found mostly on the top filter (20 μm) and interestingly, few small clusters (3-4 cells) were found on the 8 and 10 μm filters, suggesting alignment of cluster cells as they pass through the pores.4 Cell and nucleus diameters were measured, and a general correlation was found between filter pore size and cell and nucleus size. Interestingly, nucleus size was found to be the single most significant parameter in determining passage of single cells and small clusters through pores.

Following cell culture, two distinct phenotypes were observed: cell captured on small pore filters (8-12 μm) grew primarily in a monolayer. Cells captured on filters with larger pores (15-20 μm) first grew as monolayer, but rapidly formed cell aggregates that subsequently detached from the surface. Staining for E-Cadherin, a cell-cell adhesion protein, revealed a loss of expression of cells from filter with larger pores.

Conclusion: We developed a new multistage filtration method and selectively enriched and sorted cells based primarily on their nucleus size. We identified two Ov-90 populations with different growth behaviors with low E-cadherin expression on the cells forming clusters, which is known to correlate with metastasis. The application of multistage filters may also reveal different CTC populations based on nucleus and cell size.

References:

(1) Baccelli, I. et al. A. Nat. Biotech. 2013, 31, 539-544.

(2) Pecot, C. V. et al. Cancer discovery 2011, 1, 580-586.

(3) Cheung, K. J. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2016, 113, E854-E863.

(4) Au, S. H. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2016, 113, 4947-4952.

Citation Format: Anne Meunier, Sara kheireddine, J. Alejandro Hernández-Castro, Teodor Veres, David Juncker. Size based enrichment and sorting of Ov90 cancer cells and clusters with a new multistage filtration cartridge reveals distinct phenotypes [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2912. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2912

Fabrication of large-area polymer microfilter membranes and their application for particle and cell enrichment

A vacuum assisted UV micro-molding (VAUM) process is proposed for the fabrication of freestanding and defect-free polymer membranes based on a UV-curable methacrylate polymer (MD 700). VAUM is a highly flexible and powerful method for fabricating low cost, robust, large-area membranes over 9 × 9 cm² with pore sizes from 8 to 20 μm in diameter, 20 to 100 μm in thickness, high aspect ratio (the thickness of the polymer over the diameter of the hole is up to 15 : 1), high porosity, and a wide variety of geometrical characteristics. The fabricated freestanding membranes are flexible while mechanically robust enough for post manipulation and handling, which allows them to be cut and integrated as a plastic cartridge onto thermoplastic 3D microfluidic devices with single or double filtration stages. Very high particle capture efficiencies (≈98%) have been demonstrated in the microfluidic devices integrated with polymer membranes, even when the size of the beads is very close to the size of the pores of the microfilter. About 85% of the capture efficiency has been achieved in cancer cell trapping experiments, in which a breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231) spiked with phosphate-buffered saline buffer when the pore size of the filter is 8 μm and the device is operated at a flow rate of 0.1 mL min^-1.

Combination of Mechanical and Molecular Filtration for Enhanced Enrichment of Circulating Tumor Cells

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been linked to cancer progression but are difficult to isolate, as they are very rare and heterogeneous, covering a range of sizes and expressing different molecular receptors. Filtration has emerged as a simple and powerful method to enrich CTCs but only captures cells above a certain size regardless of molecular characteristics. Here, we introduce antibody-functionalized microfilters to isolate CTCs based on both size and surface receptor expression. We present a 3D printed filtration cartridge with microfabricated polymer filters with 8, 10, 12, 15, or 20 μm-diameter pores. Pristine filters were used to optimize sample dilution, rinsing protocol, flow rate, and pore size, leading to >80% for the recovery of spiked cancer cells with very low white blood cell contamination (<1000). Then, filters were functionalized with antibodies against either epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) or epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and the cartridges were used to enrich breast (MDA-MB-231, MCF-7) and renal (786-O, A-498) cancer cells expressing various levels of EpCAM and EGFR. Cancer cells were spiked into human blood, and when using filters with antibodies specific to a molecular receptor expressed on a cell, efficiency was increased to >96%. These results suggest that filtration can be optimized to target specific CTC characteristics such as size and receptor expression and that a diverse range of CTCs may be captured using particular combinations of pore size, filtration parameters, and antibody functionalization.

Polymer-based microfluidic chip for rapid and efficient immunomagnetic capture and release of Listeria monocytogenes

Infections caused by foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes pose a threat to public health while timely detection is challenging due to pathogen low numbers. The development of robust and efficient sample preparation techniques is crucial to improve detection sensitivity and workflow. Immunomagnetic separation using magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) is attractive, as it can efficiently capture target cells. For food safety applications, a platform is needed to rapidly process large sample volumes, allowing capture and release of target bacteria conjugated to immunomagnetic nanoparticles (IMNPs). Herein, we demonstrate a method for magnetic capture and release of bacteria-IMNPs complex based on a 3D magnetic trap integrated on a polymeric microfluidic device. The 3D magnetic capture region consist of a dense array of high-aspect ratio (3 : 1) cylindrical pillars embossed in thermoplastic polymer and coated with soft ferromagnetic nickel by an electroless deposition technique. This allows the generation of strong and switchable magnetic capture regions due to the very low remanence of the nickel shell. We propose and validate an optimized configuration of capture regions for efficient localized capture and rapid release of MNPs and IMNPs conjugated to L. monocytogenes. A maximum recovery rate for MNPs corresponded to 91% while a maximum capture efficiency of 30% was obtained for live bacteria, with a minimum detectable sample concentration of ~10 cfu ml(-1) in 1 ml volume using plate-culture method. We believe that the flexible design and low-cost fabrication process of the proposed system will allow rapid sample preparation for applications beyond food and water safety, including point-of-care diagnosis.

Enhancing the Detection of Giardia duodenalis Cysts in Foods by Inertial Microfluidic Separation

The sensitivity and specificity of current Giardia cyst detection methods for foods are largely determined by the effectiveness of the elution, separation, and concentration methods used. The aim of these methods is to produce a final suspension with an adequate concentration of Giardia cysts for detection and a low concentration of interfering food debris. In the present study, a microfluidic device, which makes use of inertial separation, was designed and fabricated for the separation of Giardia cysts. A cyclical pumping platform and protocol was developed to concentrate 10-ml suspensions down to less than 1 ml. Tests involving Giardia duodenalis cysts and 1.90-μm microbeads in pure suspensions demonstrated the specificity of the microfluidic chip for cysts over smaller nonspecific particles. As the suspension cycled through the chip, a large number of beads were removed (70%) and the majority of the cysts were concentrated (82%). Subsequently, the microfluidic inertial separation chip was integrated into a method for the detection of G. duodenalis cysts from lettuce samples. The method greatly reduced the concentration of background debris in the final suspensions (10-fold reduction) in comparison to that obtained by a conventional method. The method also recovered an average of 68.4% of cysts from 25-g lettuce samples and had a limit of detection (LOD) of 38 cysts. While the recovery of cysts by inertial separation was slightly lower, and the LOD slightly higher, than with the conventional method, the sample analysis time was greatly reduced, as there were far fewer background food particles interfering with the detection of cysts by immunofluorescence microscopy.

Active pneumatic control of centrifugal microfluidic flows for lab-on-a-chip applications

This paper reports a novel method of controlling liquid motion on a centrifugal microfluidic platform based on the integration of a regulated pressure pump and a programmable electromechanical valving system. We demonstrate accurate control over the displacement of liquids within the system by pressurizing simultaneously multiple ports of the microfluidic device while the platform is rotating at high speed. Compared to classical centrifugal microfluidic platforms where liquids are solely driven by centrifugal and capillary forces, the method presented herein adds a new degree of freedom for fluidic manipulation, which represents a paradigm change in centrifugal microfluidics. We first demonstrate how various core microfluidic functions such as valving, switching, and reverse pumping (i.e., against the centrifugal field) can be easily achieved by programming the pressures applied at dedicated access ports of the microfluidic device. We then show, for the first time, that the combination of centrifugal force and active pneumatic pumping offers the possibility of mixing fluids rapidly (~0.1 s) and efficiently based on the creation of air bubbles at the bottom of a microfluidic reservoir. Finally, the suitability of the developed platform for performing complex bioanalytical assays in an automated fashion is demonstrated in a DNA harvesting experiment where recovery rates of about 70% were systematically achieved. The proposed concept offers the interesting prospect to decouple basic microfluidic functions from specific material properties, channel dimensions and fabrication tolerances, surface treatments, or on-chip active components, thus promoting integration of complex assays on simple and low-cost microfluidic cartridges.

Twin tubular pinch effect in curving confined flows

Colloidal suspensions of buoyancy neutral particles flowing in circular pipes focus into narrow distributions near the wall due to lateral migration effects associated with fluid inertia. In curving flows, these distributions are altered by Dean currents and the interplay between Reynolds and Dean numbers is used to predict equilibrium positions. Here, we propose a new description of inertial lateral migration in curving flows that expands current understanding of both focusing dynamics and equilibrium distributions. We find that at low Reynolds numbers, the ratio δ between lateral inertial migration and Dean forces scales simply with the particle radius, coil curvature and pipe radius as . A critical value δ_c = 0.148 of this parameter is identified along with two related inertial focusing mechanisms. In the regime below δ_c, coined subcritical, Dean forces generate permanently circulating, twinned annuli, each with intricate equilibrium particle distributions including eyes and trailing arms. At δ > δ_c (supercritical regime) inertial lateral migration forces are dominant and particles focus to a single stable equilibrium position.

Rapid and multiplex detection of Legionella's RNA using digital microfluidics

Despite recent advances in the miniaturization and automation of biosensors, technologies for on-site monitoring of environmental water are still at an early stage of development. Prevention of outbreaks caused by pathogens such as Legionella pneumophila would be facilitated by the development of sensitive and specific bioanalytical assays that can be easily integrated in miniaturized fluidic handling systems. In this work, we report on the integration of an amplification-free assay in digital microfluidics (DMF) for the detection of Legionella bacteria based on targeting 16s rRNA. We first review the design of the developed DMF devices, which provide the capability to store up to one hundred nL-size droplets simultaneously, and discuss the challenges involved with on-chip integration of the RNA-based assay. By optimizing the various steps of the assay, including magnetic capture, hybridization duration, washing steps, and assay temperature, a limit of detection as low as 1.8 attomoles of synthetic 16s rRNA was obtained, which compares advantageously to other amplification-free detection systems. Finally, we demonstrate the specificity of the developed assay by performing multiplex detection of 16s rRNAs from a pathogenic and a non-pathogenic species of Legionella. We believe the developed DMF devices combined with the proposed detection system offers new prospects for the deployment of rapid and cost-effective technologies for on-site monitoring of pathogenic bacteria.

From cellular lysis to microarray detection, an integrated thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) point of care Lab on a Disc

We present an all-thermoplastic integrated sample-to-answer centrifugal microfluidic Lab-on-Disc system (LoD) for nucleic acid analysis. The proposed CD system and engineered platform were employed for analysis of Bacillus atrophaeus subsp. globigii spores. The complete assay comprised cellular lysis, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, amplicon digestion, and microarray hybridization on a plastic support. The fluidic robustness and operating efficiency of the assay were ensured through analytical optimization of microfluidic tools enabling beneficial implementation of capillary valves and accurate control of all flow timing procedures. The assay reliability was further improved through the development of two novel microfluidic strategies for reagents mixing and flow delay on the CD platform. In order to bridge the gap between the proof-of-concept LoD and production prototype demonstration, low-cost thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) was selected as the material for CD fabrication and assembly, allowing the use of both, high quality hot-embossing and injection molding processes. Additionally, the low-temperature and pressure-free assembly and bonding properties of TPE material offer a pertinent solution for simple and efficient loading and storage of reagents and other on-board components. This feature was demonstrated through integration and conditioning of microbeads, magnetic discs, dried DNA buffer reagents and spotted DNA array inserts. Furthermore, all microfluidic functions and plastic parts were designed according to the current injection mold-making knowledge for industrialization purposes. Therefore, the current work highlights a seamless strategy that promotes a feasible path for the transfer from prototype toward realistic industrialization. This work aims to establish the full potential for TPE-based centrifugal system as a mainstream microfluidic diagnostic platform for clinical diagnosis, water and food safety, and other molecular diagnostic applications.

Integrated air stream micromixer for performing bioanalytical assays on a plastic chip

This paper describes the design, functioning and use of an integrated mixer that relies on air flux to agitate microliter entities of fluid in an embedded microfluidic cavity. The system was fabricated from multiple layers of a thermoplastic elastomer and features circuits for both liquid and air supply along with pneumatic valves for process control. Internally-dyed polymer particles have been used to visualize flow within the fluid phase during agitation. Numerical modelling of the micromixer revealed an overall efficacy of 10(-1) to 10(-2) for momentum transfer at the air-water interface. Simulation of air vortex dynamics showed dependency of the flow pattern on the velocity of the flux entering the cavity. Three bioanalytical assays have been performed as proof-of-concept demonstrations. In a first assay, cells of Listeria monocytogenes were combined with magnetic nanoparticles (NPs), resulting in high-density coverage of the bacteria's surface with NPs after 1 min of agitation. This finding is contrasted by a control experiment without agitation for which interaction between bacteria and NPs remains low. In a second one, capture and release of genomic DNA from fungi through adsorption onto magnetic beads was tested and shown to be improved by agitation compared to non-agitated controls. A third assay finally involved fluorescently-labelled target oligonucleotide strands and polystyrene particles modified with DNA capture probes to perform detection of nucleic acids on beads. Excellent selectivity was obtained in a competitive hybridization process using a multiplexed micromixer chip design.

High throughput multilayer microfluidic particle separation platform using embedded thermoplastic-based micropumping

We present an integrated thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) based multilayer microfluidic device with an embedded peristaltic micropump and through-holes membrane for high throughput particle sorting and separation. Fluidic and pneumatic layers of the device were fabricated using hot-embossing lithography and commercially available polycarbonate membranes were succcessfully sandwiched between two thermoplastic elastomer fluidic layers integrated to a peristaltic micropumping layer. The integrated peristaltic micropump induces turbulence at the top-microfluidic layer ring which successfully avoids particle aggregation and membrane blocking even at nanorange size. We present herein the general design of the device structure and pumping characteristics for three devices with membrane pore sizes of 10 μm, 5 μm and 800 nm. By using this design we have successfully demonstrated a separation efficiency as high as 99% of polystyrene microbeads with different sizes and most importantly the separation of 390 nm particles from 2 μm beads was achieved. Using this device, we were also able to separate red blood cells with size of about 6-8 μm from osteoblasts typically larger than 10 μm to demonstrate the potential applicability of this platform for biological samples. The produced microfluidic chip operating at flow rates up to 100 μl min(-1) allows us to achieve efficient high-throughput sorting and separation of target particles/cells.

Thermo-active elastomer composite for optical heating in microfluidic systems

Single-walled carbon nanotubes are used as doping agents to form thermo-active composites with an elastomeric block-copolymer. Thermal imaging reveals that the temperature response upon irradiation with NIR laser light is dependent (among other things) on the mass fraction of the nanotubes in the polymer matrix.

All-thermoplastic nanoplasmonic microfluidic device for transmission SPR biosensing

Early and accurate disease diagnosis still remains a major challenge in clinical settings. Biomarkers could potentially provide useful tools for the detection and monitoring of disease progression, treatment safety and efficacy. Recent years have witnessed prodigious advancement in biosensor development with research directed towards rapid, real-time, label-free and sensitive biomarker detection. Among emerging techniques, nanoplasmonic biosensors pose tremendous potential to accelerate clinical diagnosis with real-time multiplexed analysis, rapid and miniaturized assays, low sample consumption and high sensitivity. In order to translate these technologies from the proof-of-principle concept level to point of care clinical diagnosis, integrated, portable devices having small footprint cartridges that house low-cost disposable consumables are sought. Towards this goal, we developed an all-polymeric nanoplasmonic microfluidic (NMF) transmission surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor. The device was fabricated in thermoplastics using a simple, single step and cost-effective hot embossing technique amenable to mass production. The novel 3D hierarchical mold fabrication process enabled monolithic integration of blazed nanogratings within the detection chambers of a multichannel microfluidic system. Consequently, a single hard thermoplastic bottom substrate comprising plasmonic and fluidic features allowed integration of active fluidic elements, such as pneumatic valves, in the top soft thermoplastic cover, increasing device functionality. A simple and compact transmission-based optical setup was employed with multiplexed end-point or dual-channel kinetic detection capability which did not require stringent angular accuracy. The sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility of the transmission SPR biosensor was demonstrated through label-free immunodetection of soluble cell-surface glycoprotein sCD44 at clinically relevant picomolar to nanomolar concentrations.

Microfluidic designs and techniques using lab-on-a-chip devices for pathogen detection for point-of-care diagnostics

Effective pathogen detection is an essential prerequisite for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. Despite recent advances in biosensors, infectious diseases remain a major cause of illnesses and mortality throughout the world. For instance in developing countries, infectious diseases account for over half of the mortality rate. Pathogen detection platforms provide a fundamental tool in different fields including clinical diagnostics, pathology, drug discovery, clinical research, disease outbreaks, and food safety. Microfluidic lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices offer many advantages for pathogen detection such as miniaturization, small sample volume, portability, rapid detection time and point-of-care diagnosis. This review paper outlines recent microfluidic based devices and LOC design strategies for pathogen detection with the main focus on the integration of different techniques that led to the development of sample-to-result devices. Several examples of recently developed devices are presented along with respective advantages and limitations of each design. Progresses made in biomarkers, sample preparation, amplification and fluid handling techniques using microfluidic platforms are also covered and strategies for multiplexing and high-throughput analysis, as well as point-of-care diagnosis, are discussed.

Nitric oxide delivery by core/shell superparamagnetic nanoparticle vehicles with enhanced biocompatibility

We report the synthesis of Fe(3)O(4)/silica core/shell nanoparticles and their functionalization with S-nitrosothiols. These nanoparticles are of immense interest because of their nitric oxide (NO) release capabilities in human alveolar epithelial cells. Moreover, they act as large storage reservoirs of NO that can be targeted magnetically to the specific site with a sustainable release of NO for up to 50 h. Such nanoparticles provide an enhancement of the biocompatibility with released NO while allowing intracellular accumulation ascribed to their small size.

In vitro biocompatibility assessment of functionalized magnetite nanoparticles: biological and cytotoxicological effects

In the biomedical field, nanomaterials have the potential for use in the targeted delivery of drugs in the human body and in the diagnosis and therapy of certain diseases. In the category of targeted delivery, magnetite (Fe(3)O(4)) nanoparticles have received much attention. As with any similar new therapy, when such nanoparticles are functionalized with chemical groups designed to permit the specific attachment of drugs, cytotoxicological testing is necessary before moving to animal models. Here, we consider several variously functionalized magnetite nanoparticles, including those prepared with (1) a monolayer of oleic acid (Fe(3)O(4)@OA), which is subsequently converted to (2) a shell of amine-containing silane (Fe(3)O(4)@NH(2)), (3) a shell of silica (Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2)), and (4) a shell of amine-containing silane over a shell of silica (Fe(3)O(4)@SiO(2)@NH(2)). These latter three functionalities were evaluated for biocompatibility, cellular morphology, mitochondrial function (MTT assay), lactate dehydrogenase membrane leakage (LDH assay), and proinflammatory potential through enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for interleukin 6 (IL-6). Controlled tests were performed over a period of 72 h, with results showing LDH leakage and abnormal Il-6 secretion at high concentrations (>50 μg/mL). The tests showed that, in addition to the surface characteristics of the nanoparticles, both the nutrient medium and the time of suspension before exposure to cells also contribute to nanoparticle cytotoxicity.