Event Abstract Back to Event Manipulation of magnetic nanorods to study the effect of a single nanoparticle in an isolated cell Valentina Frenkel1, Roberto Ebensperger2, 3, Hugo Olguin4, Daniel Hurtado3, 5 and Loreto Valenzuela Roediger1, 3 1 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Department of Chemical and Bioprocesses Engineering, Chile 2 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Chile 3 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Center of Nanotechnology Research and Advanced Materials "CIEN -UC", Chile 4 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Chile 5 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, Chile Introduction: The use of nanomaterials within cells is being studied mostly for cancer treatment by thermal damage[1],[2] or mechanical damage[3]. It has been shown that nanorods can deform considerably the cytoplasm and cell membrane[4]. However, obtaining images to determine if they are incorporated into the cells is not completely definitive and it hasn't been seen studies to determine the effect of a single nanoparticle in an isolated cell and see if indeed it is inside the cell. Finding out if this incorporation is possible would allow the study the response of cells exposed to mechanical stress generated inside them, whose applications are of interest for cancer treatment, study of intracellular dynamism or the effect of forced migration. Materials and Methods: Magnetic nanorods of 3 µm in length and 200 nm diameter were obtained by electrodeposition of nickel and platinum in 1:2 ratio, on a templates of porous alumina and stored in ethanol as previously described 4. The nanorods were incorporated into fibroblast cell line NIH/3T3 and analyzed under a microscope equipped with Q-Color 3 Image system (Olympus), while applying an external magnetic field of 500 mT generated by two neodymium magnets of 5.3 T each. The magnets were coupled to a bearing placed under the microscope to 2 mm of the sample and leaving 3 mm between each magnet for the passage of light. Results and Discussion: As a result of our experimental setting, individual and agglomerates nanorods were observed inside cells. The day after the application of nanorods, cells remained attached to the plate. Figure 1 shows snapshots of a single cell with a single nanoparticle, turning along the magnetic field, which deforms the cell membrane. These results suggest that the nickel/platinum nanorods are incorporated inside fibroblasts after one day of its application, that they are not harmful to the cell culture and that handling they can cause changes in its structure. Figure 1. 3 µm long nanorods in NIH/3T3 fibroblasts cells. The magnetic field moves clockwise and its direction is signaled by the arrow on the black circle. The arrow on the cylinder indicates its direction by rotating the system. It's shown a) to h) the results obtained over a cell, where b) to c) the cylinder failed to complete the turn and returned counterclockwise to align with the field again. At e) to f) is the same. Finally at g) to h) the cylinder achieves a spin. Zoom 20X. Conclusion. It is possible to incorporate magnetic nanorods 3 µm in NIH/3T3 fibroblasts for external manipulation. Future research includes the analysis of intracellular structures and their response to this type of stimulation. We thank A. Celedón and M. Castillo for their guidance during the nanowire fabrication. We acknowledge the support of Pontifical Catholic University of Chile through grant the interdisciplinary research project CIEN-UC Nº 1315-000-81.