1 research outputs found
Synthesis and Characterization of a Biocompatible Nanoplatform Based on Silica-Embedded SPIONs Functionalized with Polydopamine
Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) have
gained
increasing interest in nanomedicine, but most of those that have entered
the clinical trials have been withdrawn due to toxicity concerns.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to design low-risk and biocompatible
SPION formulations. In this work, we present an original safe-by-design
nanoplatform made of silica nanoparticles loaded with SPIONs and decorated
with polydopamine (SPIONs@SiO2-PDA) and the study of its biocompatibility
performance by an ad hoc thorough in vitro to in vivo nanotoxicological
methodology. The results indicate that the SPIONs@SiO2-PDA
have excellent colloidal stability in serum-supplemented culture media,
even after long-term (24 h) exposure, showing no cytotoxic or genotoxic
effects in vitro and ex vivo. Physiological responses, evaluated in
vivo using Caenorhabditis elegans as
the animal model, showed no impact on fertility and embryonic viability,
induction of an oxidative stress response, and a mild impact on animal
locomotion. These tests indicate that the synergistic combination
of the silica matrix and PDA coating we developed effectively protects
the SPIONs, providing enhanced colloidal stability and excellent biocompatibility