Cell toxicity studies of albumin-based nanosized magnetic beads

The aim of this study was to prepare bovine serum albumin-based beads containing maghemite nanoparticles incorporated via ionic magnetic fluid and to evaluate the cell toxicity of this biocompatible system using the J774-A1 cell line. Transmission electron micrographs obtained from the magnetic fluid sample were used to estimate the average particle diameter around 7.6 nm and diameter dispersion of 0.22. The BSA-based magnetic beads were prepared using the heat protein denaturation route. The nanoparticle concentration in the magnetic fluid sample used for the synthesis of the magnetic beads was in the range of 1.2 x 10(16) to 2.3 x 10(17) particle/ml. The methodology used to investigate the cell toxicity of the magnetic beads was the classical MTT assay. Our observation showed that the toxicity against the J774-A1 cell line depends upon the amount of magnetic material incorporated into the magnetic nanobeads and was found to be 14, 11, 9, 5, and 3% for 2.3 x 10(17), 1.2 x 10(17), 4.6 x 10(16), 2.3 x 10(16), and 1.2 x 10(16) particle/ml, respectively.