Influence of hydrogel and porous scaffold on the magnetic thermal property and anticancer effect of Fe3O4 nanoparticles

Abstract

Magnetic hyperthermia uses magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) for conversion of magnetic energy into thermal energy under an alternating magnetic field (AMF) to increase local temperature for ablation of cancer cells. The magnetic thermal capacity of MNPs not only depends on the intrinsic properties of MNPs but is also affected by the microenvironmental matrices surrounding the MNPs. In this study, the influence of agarose hydrogels and gelatin porous scaffolds on the magnetic thermal property and anticancer effect of Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) were investigated with a comparison to free Fe3O4 NPs. Flower-like Fe3O4 NPs were synthesized and embedded in agarose hydrogels and gelatin porous scaffolds. Under AMF irradiation, the free Fe3O4 NPs had the best magnetic thermal properties and the most efficiently increased the local temperature to ablate breast cancer cells. However, the Fe3O4 NPs embedded in agarose hydrogels and gelatin porous scaffolds showed reduced magnetic-thermal conversion capacity, and the local temperature change was decreased in comparison to free Fe3O4 NPs during AMF irradiation. The gelatin porous scaffolds showed a higher inhibitory influence than the agarose hydrogels. The inhibitory effect of agarose hydrogels and gelatin porous scaffolds on magnetic-thermal conversion capacity resulted in a decreased anticancer ablation capacity to breast cancer cells during AMF irradiation. The Fe3O4 NP-embedded gelatin scaffolds showed the lowest anticancer effect. The results suggested that the matrices used to deliver MNPs could affect their performance, and appropriate matrices should be designed to maximize their therapeutic effect for biomedical applications.