Visible Laser Light Mediated Cancer Therapy via Photothermal Effect of Tannin-Stabilized Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

Abstract

Super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs/Fe3O4) were synthesized in aqueous medium under a nitrogen atmosphere. These particles were made water-dispersible by cladding them with tannic acid (TA). The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized for their size and surface charge using HRTEM and zetasizer. It was found that the size of the particles formed was around 15 nm with almost spherical morphology and negative surface charge. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) data attributed a super-paramagnetic nature to these nanoparticles. The photo-thermal dynamics of these magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles was characterized by exciting their dispersions with laser radiation in the visible region (635 nm). Remarkably, 17 min of laser irradiation of the dispersion raised its temperature by ~25 °C (25 to 49.8 °C), whereas for the solvent, it was limited to not more than 4 °C (after 60 min). Thus, the Fe3O4 nanoparticles generated localized hyperthermia for potential use in cancer therapy of tumor management. The photo-thermal dynamics of these nanoparticles was investigated in-vitro for cancer therapy, and it was clearly shown that cancer cell growth was inhibited, and considerable cellular damage occurred when cells were incubated with laser-activated magnetic nanoparticles. No noticeable innate toxicity of the nanoparticles was observed on cancer cell lines. The effectiveness of these nanoparticles was studied on several malignant cell lines, and an acceptable Fe3O4 concentration range was subsequently determined for generating substantial cell death by hyperthermia, but not inherent toxicity. Therefore, we concluded that this nano-system is effective and less time consuming for the treatment of malignant diseases such as cancer.