Synthesis and Chemical Functionalization of Ferromagnetic Nanoparticles to Manipulate Stem Cells Using External Magnetic Fields

The human brain is able to respond to several situations that promotes neural survivance, growth and neuronal cells regeneration. The potential of stem cells from the subventricular zone to be used for neuronal cell substitution has been widely studied. However, migration of endogen or transplanted cells is random, not efficient and with a very low survivance rate. The use of ferromagnetic nanoparticles may be of interest to guide the stem cells to the desired site using external fields. In this project, we have synthesized ferromagnetic nanoparticles (magnetite) with an average diameter of 10–12 nm, and functionalized with folic acid-flourosceine (with an average yield of 60–70%) in order to induce their entry into rat neuronal precursor cells in vivo and in vitro. The efficiency of cellular incorporation was low in vitro, observing clustering of the nanoparticles at the cytoplasm membrane. During the in vivo tests, no incorporation of nanoparticles was detected. Several results and perspectives are discussed in this work.