The fabrication of iron oxide nanoparticle-nanofiber composites by electrospinning and their applications in tissue engineering.

This paper reviews the use of iron oxide nanoparticle-nanofiber composites in tissue engineering with a focus on the electrospinning technique. Electrospinning is an established method of scaffold fabrication offering a number of key advantages which include its facile nature, with electrospun materials offering a high surface area to volume ratio, potential for the release of drugs and antimicrobials, controllable fiber diameters and high porosity and permeability. A number of different techniques for the preparation of iron oxide nanoparticles including their functionalization are discussed along with their applications in the biomedical field. The review then focusses on the fabrication of nanoparticle-nanofiber composite scaffolds formed using electrospinning. The advantages and disadvantages of current fabrication techniques are discussed including the fabrication of nanofibers using pre-synthesized nanoparticles and post-treatment synthesized nanoparticles. We demonstrate that emerging in-situ synthesis techniques show promise by offering a reduced number of steps and simpler procedures for the production of magnetic scaffolds. These scaffolds have a number of applications in tissue engineering, allowing for improved bone and tissue repair.

In-situ synthesis of magnetic iron-oxide nanoparticle-nanofibre composites using electrospinning.

We demonstrate a facile, one-step process to form polymer scaffolds composed of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MNPs) contained within electrospun nano- and micro-fibres of two biocompatible polymers, Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). This was achieved with both needle and free-surface electrospinning systems demonstrating the scalability of the composite fibre manufacture; a 228 fold increase in fibre fabrication was observed for the free-surface system. In all cases the nanoparticle-nanofibre composite scaffolds displayed morphological properties as good as or better than those previously described and fabricated using complex multi-stage techniques. Fibres produced had an average diameter (Needle-spun: 125±18nm (PEO) and 1.58±0.28µm (PVP); Free-surface electrospun: 155±31nm (PEO)) similar to that reported previously, were smooth with no bead defects. Nanoparticle-nanofibre composites were characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), dynamic light scattering (DLS) (Nanoparticle average diameter ranging from 8±3nm to 27±5nm), XRD (Phase of iron oxide nanoparticles identified as magnetite) and nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation measurements (NMR) (T1/T2: 32.44 for PEO fibres containing MNPs) were used to verify the magnetic behaviour of MNPs. This study represents a significant step forward for production rates of magnetic nanoparticle-nanofibre composite scaffolds by the electrospinning technique.

The role of iron redox state in the genotoxicity of ultrafine superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles.

Ultrafine superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (USPION) hold great potential for revolutionising biomedical applications such as MRI, localised hyperthermia, and targeted drug delivery. Though evidence is increasing regarding the influence of nanoparticle physico-chemical features on toxicity, data however, is lacking that assesses a range of such characteristics in parallel. We show that iron redox state, a subtle though important physico-chemical feature of USPION, dramatically modifies the cellular uptake of these nanoparticles and influences their induction of DNA damage. Surface chemistry was also found to have an impact and evidence to support a potential mechanism of oxidative DNA damage behind the observed responses has been demonstrated. As human exposure to ferrofluids is predicted to increase through nanomedicine based therapeutics, these findings are important in guiding the fabrication of USPION to ensure they have characteristics that support biocompatibility.

Dextran coated ultrafine superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: compatibility with common fluorometric and colorimetric dyes.

Due to the unique physicochemical properties of nanomaterials (NM) and their unknown reactivity, the possibility of NM altering the optical properties of fluorometric/colorimetric probes that are used to measure their cyto- and genotoxicity may lead to inaccurate readings. This could have potential implications given that NM, such as ultrafine superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (USPION), are increasingly finding their use in nanomedicine and the absorbance/fluorescence based assays are used to assess their toxicity. This study looks at the potential of dextran-coated USPION (dUSPION) (maghemite and magnetite) to alter the background signal of common probes used for evaluating cytotoxicity (MTS, CyQUANT, Calcein, and EthD-1) and oxidative stress (DCFH-DA and APF). In the present study, both forms of dUSPION caused an increase in MTS signal but a decrease in background signal from calcein and 3'-(p-aminophenyl) fluorescein (APF) and no effect on CyQUANT and EthD-1 fluorescence responses. Magnetite caused a decrease in fluorescence signal of DCFH, but it did not decrease fluorescence signal in the presence of the reactive oxygen species-inducer tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP). In contrast, maghemite caused an increase in fluorescence, which was substantially reduced in the presence of the antioxidant N-acetyl cysteine. This study emphasizes the importance of considering and controlling for possible interactions between NM and fluorometric/colorimetric dyes and, most importantly, the oxidation state of dUSPION that may confound their sensitivity and specificity.

NanoGenotoxicology: the DNA damaging potential of engineered nanomaterials.

With the rapid expansion in the nanotechnology industry, it is essential that the safety of engineered nanomaterials and the factors that influence their associated hazards are understood. A vital area governing regulatory health risk assessment is genotoxicology (the study of genetic aberrations following exposure to test agents), as DNA damage may initiate and promote carcinogenesis, or impact fertility. Of late, considerable attention has been given to the toxicity of engineered nanomaterials, but the importance of their genotoxic potential on human health has been largely overlooked. This comprehensive review focuses on the reported abilities of metal nanoparticles, metal-oxide nanoparticles, quantum dots, fullerenes, and fibrous nanomaterials, to damage or interact with DNA, and their ecogenotoxicity is also considered. Many of the engineered nanomaterials assessed were found to cause genotoxic responses, such as chromosomal fragmentation, DNA strand breakages, point mutations, oxidative DNA adducts and alterations in gene expression profiles. However, there are clear inconsistencies in the literature and it is difficult to draw conclusions on the physico-chemical features of nanomaterials that promote genotoxicity, largely due to study design. Hence, areas that require that further attention are highlighted and recommendations to improve our understanding of the genotoxic potential of engineered nanomaterials are addressed.

Progesterone induces nano-scale molecular modifications on endometrial epithelial cell surfaces.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The endometrial epithelial cell membrane is a key interface in female reproductive biology. Steroid hormones play a predominant role in cyclic changes which occur at this interface during the female menstrual cycle. Specific changes in the morphology of the endometrial epithelial cell surface become apparent with the epithelial transition that drives the switch from a non-receptive to receptive surface due to the action of progesterone on an oestrogen primed tissue. AFM (atomic force microscopy) allows the high-resolution characterization of the endometrial epithelial cell surface. Its contact probe mechanism enables a unique imaging method that requires little sample preparation, yielding topographical and morphological characterization. By stiffening the cell membrane, low concentrations of fixatives allow the surface detail of the cell to be resolved while preserving fine ultra-structural details for analysis. RESULTS: In the present study we use high resolution AFM analysis of endometrial epithelial cells to monitor the effect of progesterone on the nanoscale structure of the endometrial cell surface. High-resolution imaging reveals similar topographical nanoscale changes in both the Hec-1-A and Ishikawa model cell lines. Hec-1-B cells, used in the present study as a progesterone receptor negative control, however, exhibit a flattened cell surface morphology following progesterone treatment. Changes in average cell height and surface convolution correlate with increased surface roughness measurements, demonstrating alterations in molecular structure on the cell surface due to hormonal stimulation. CONCLUSIONS: Progesterone treatment induces changes to the cell surface as a result of nanoscale molecular modifications in response to external hormonal treatments. AFM provides the basis for the identification, visualization and quantification of these cell surface nanoscale changes. Together these findings demonstrate the utility of AFM for use in reproductive science and cancer biology where it could be applied in both in vitro analysis of protein structure-function relationships and clinical diagnosis.