Zinc substituted ferrite nanoparticles with Zn0.9Fe2.1O4 formula used as heating agents for in vitro hyperthermia assay on glioma cells

In this paper we investigate the ability of zinc rich ferrite nanoparticles to induce hyperthermia on cancer cells using an alternating magnetic field (AMF). First, we synthesized ferrites and then we analyzed their physico-chemical properties by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and magnetic and magnetocalorimetric measurements. We found that the polyol-made magnetically diluted particles are of 11 nm in size. They are superparamagnetic at body temperature (310 K) with a low but non-negligible magnetization. Interestingly, as nano-ferrimagnets they exhibit a Curie temperature of 366 K, close to the therapeutic temperature range. Their effect on human healthy endothelial (HUVEC) and malignant glioma (U87-MG) cells was also evaluated using MTT viability assays. Incubated with the two cell lines, at doses ≤100 µg mL −1 and contact times ≤4 h, they exhibit a mild in vitro toxicity. In these same operating biological conditions and coupled to AMF (700 kHz and 34.4 Oe) for 1 h, they rapidly induce a net temperature increase. In the case of tumor cells it reaches 4 K, making the produced particles particularly promising for self-regulated magnetically-induced heating in local glioma therapy.