Department of Electrical Engineering Florida International University, Miami, Florida, 33174, USA.
Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, 33199, USA.
Sci Rep. 2017 May 3;7(1):1610. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-01647-x.
Magnetoelectric (ME) nanoparticles (MENs) intrinsically couple magnetic and electric fields. Using them as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) sensitive nanoprobes adds another dimension for NMR detection of biological cells based on the cell type and corresponding particle association with the cell. Based on ME property, for the first time we show that MENs can distinguish different cancer cells among themselves as well as from their normal counterparts. The core-shell nanoparticles are 30 nm in size and were not superparamagnetic. Due to presence of the ME effect, these nanoparticles can significantly enhance the electric field configuration on the cell membrane which serves as a signature characteristic depending on the cancer cell type and progression stage. This was clearly observed by a significant change in the NMR absorption spectra of cells incubated with MENs. In contrast, conventional cobalt ferrite magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) did not show any change in the NMR absorption spectra. We conclude that different membrane properties of cells which result in distinct MEN organization and the minimization of electrical energy due to particle binding to the cells contribute to the NMR signal. The nanoprobe based NMR spectroscopy has the potential to enable rapid screening of cancers and impact next-generation cancer diagnostic exams.
磁电（ME）纳米粒子（MENs）本质上可以将磁场和电场耦合在一起。将它们用作磁共振（NMR）敏感纳米探针，基于细胞类型和相应的粒子与细胞的结合，为基于 NMR 的生物细胞检测增加了另一个维度。基于 ME 特性，我们首次表明，MENs 可以区分彼此之间以及与正常细胞对应的不同癌细胞。这些核壳纳米粒子的尺寸为 30nm，并且不是超顺磁的。由于存在 ME 效应，这些纳米粒子可以显著增强细胞膜上的电场配置，这是根据癌细胞类型和进展阶段的特征。这可以通过用 MENs 孵育的细胞的 NMR 吸收光谱的显著变化清楚地观察到。相比之下，传统的钴铁氧体磁性纳米粒子（MNPs）在 NMR 吸收光谱中没有显示出任何变化。我们得出结论，细胞的不同膜性质导致 MEN 的不同组织，以及由于粒子与细胞结合而导致的最小化的电能，有助于 NMR 信号。基于纳米探针的 NMR 光谱学具有快速筛选癌症并影响下一代癌症诊断检查的潜力。
