Mathematics and Physics "E. De Giorgi" Department, University of Salento, Via Monteroni, Lecce 73100, Italy.
Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari, Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo, Via Saffi 2, Urbino 61029, Italy.
Biomater Sci. 2023 May 2;11(9):3252-3268. doi: 10.1039/d3bm00264k.
The application of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) in drug delivery, magnetic resonance imaging, cell tracking, and hyperthermia has been long exploited regarding their inducible magnetic properties. Nevertheless, SPIONs remain rapidly cleared from the circulation by the reticuloendothelial system (RES) or mononuclear phagocyte system, with uptake dependent on several factors such as the hydrodynamic diameter, electrical charge and surface coating. This rapid clearance of SPION-based theranostic agents from circulation is one of the main challenges hampering the medical applications that differ from RES targeting. This work proposes a strategy to render biocompatible SPIONs through their encapsulation in the red blood cells (RBCs). In this work, the research has been focused on the multi-step optimization of chemical synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), precisely iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) and zinc manganese-ferrite nanoparticles (Zn/Mn FNPs), for encapsulation in human and murine RBCs. The encapsulation through the transient opening of RBC membrane pores requires extensive efforts to deliver high-quality nanoparticles in terms of chemical properties, morphology, stability and biocompatibility. After reaching this goal, experiments were performed with selected nanomaterials to investigate the potential of engineered MNP-RBC constructs in theranostic approaches.
超顺磁性氧化铁纳米粒子（SPIONs）在药物输送、磁共振成像、细胞跟踪和热疗中的应用，因其诱导的磁性特性而得到了长期的开发。然而，SPIONs 仍然会被网状内皮系统（RES）或单核吞噬细胞系统迅速清除，其摄取取决于多个因素，如流体动力学直径、电荷和表面涂层。这种基于 SPION 的治疗剂从循环中快速清除是阻碍不同于 RES 靶向的医学应用的主要挑战之一。本工作提出了一种通过将其包封在红细胞（RBCs）中来使生物相容的 SPIONs 的策略。在这项工作中，研究的重点是通过多步优化化学合成磁性纳米颗粒（MNPs），即氧化铁纳米颗粒（IONPs）和锌锰铁氧体纳米颗粒（Zn/Mn FNPs），以封装在人源和鼠源 RBCs 中。通过 RBC 膜孔的瞬时打开进行封装需要付出大量努力，以提供在化学性质、形态、稳定性和生物相容性方面具有高质量的纳米颗粒。达到这一目标后，我们使用选定的纳米材料进行实验，以研究工程化 MNP-RBC 构建体在治疗方法中的潜力。
