Exploration of structural and magnetic aspects of biocompatible cobalt ferrite nanoparticles with canted spin configuration and assessment of their selective anti-leukemic efficacy

Abstract

Single phase CoFe2O4 nanoparticles (CF NPs) were prepared by a simple co-precipitation method. The cation distribution over A and B sites was estimated from the Rietveld analysis. In addition, different structural parameters, viz, oxygen positional parameter, bond angle, bond length, and strength of different interactions were also determined. The M-H loop at room temperature with moderate coercivity (∼204 Oe) and remanent magnetization (∼0.85 emu/gm) implies that the sample is ferromagnetic in nature and suitable for drug delivery/biomedical applications. The magnetization does not change appreciably with temperature due to the Yafet-Kittel spin arrangement on the B sublattice. For the evolution of the anti-leukemic activity of CF NPs, cell viability assay was performed against the K562 cell line, as well as the cytotoxicity was determined against healthy human blood cells. Significant anti-leukemic efficacy was found in a time and concentration dependent manner (IC50: 27.77 µg/ml); whereas in the case of normal cells, a higher level of IC50 value (87.03 µg/ml) was observed. Oxidative stress was induced after treatment with CF NPs in cancer cells, which was reported by measuring cellular redox status, oxidative stress marker, and antioxidant enzyme activity. As evident by fluorescence imaging, the increased level of ROS produced DNA damage and ultimately leads to the death of the cancer cells.