Toxicity and Functional Impairment in Human Adipose Tissue-Derived Stromal Cells (hASCs) Following Long-Term Exposure to Very Small Iron Oxide Particles (VSOPs)

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 10; no. 4; p. 741
• Main Authors: Radeloff, Katrin, Radeloff, Andreas, Ramos Tirado, Mario, Scherzad, Agmal, Hagen, Rudolf, Kleinsasser, Norbert H, Hackenberg, Stephan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 13.04.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Adipose tissue; Biocompatibility; Biomedical materials; Body fat; Caspase-3; Cultivation; Cytokines; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Differentiation (biology); differentiation potential; DNA; Drug delivery; Drug delivery systems; Exposure; Gene expression; human adipose-derived stromal cells; Impairment; Interleukin 6; Interleukin 8; iron oxide nanoparticles; Iron oxides; Labeling; Magnetic fields; Magnetic resonance imaging; Mesenchyme; Microscopy; Nanoparticles; Polymerase chain reaction; Stem cells; Stromal cells; Success; Tissue engineering; Toxicity; Vascular endothelial growth factor; VSOP; Germany; toxicity; human adipose-derived stromal cells; stem cells; nanoparticles; iron oxide nanoparticles; VSOP; differentiation potential; long-term exposure
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano10040741

Magnetic nanoparticles (NPs), such as very small iron oxide NPs (VSOPs) can be used for targeted drug delivery, cancer treatment or tissue engineering. Another important field of application is the labelling of mesenchymal stem cells to allow in vivo tracking and visualization of transplanted cells using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). For these NPs, however, various toxic effects, as well as functional impairment of the exposed cells, are described. The present study evaluates the influence of VSOPs on the multilineage differentiation ability and cytokine secretion of human adipose tissue derived stromal cells (hASCs) after long-term exposure. Human ASCs were labelled with VSOPs, and the efficacy of the labelling was documented over 4 weeks in vitro cultivation of the labelled cells. Unlabelled hASCs served as negative controls. Four weeks after labelling, adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation was histologically evaluated and quantified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Changes in gene expression of IL-6, IL-8, VEGF and caspase 3 were determined over 4 weeks. Four weeks after the labelling procedure, labelled and unlabelled hASCs did not differ in the gene expression of IL-6, IL-8, VEGF and caspase 3. Furthermore, the labelling procedure had no influence on the multidifferentiation ability of hASC. The percentage of labelled cells decreased during in vitro expansion over 4 weeks. Labelling with VSOPs and long-term intracellular disposition probably have no influence on the physiological functions of hASCs. This could be important for the future in vivo use of iron oxide NPs.