earticle

영어

Despite many powerful advantages of iron oxide nanoparticles such as imaging and targeting tools for therapeutic purposes, its biological effects have not been extensively elucidated yet. We found that iron oxide nanoparticles can enhance the neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells.
PC12 cells exposed to iron oxide nanoparticles and nerve growth factor (NGF) synergistically increased the efficiency of neurite outgrowth in a dose-dependent manner. This phenomenon might result from the activation of cell adhesion molecule associated with cell-matrix interaction. Immunoblotting assay revealed that both neural specific marker protein and cell adhesion protein expression levels were upregulated by iron oxide nanoparticles compared with non-treated cells via activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. Our findings point out the possibility that iron oxide nanoparticles can affect cell-substrate interactions and regulate cell behaviors, which provide potential clinical insights into neurologic and therapeutic applications of iron oxide nanoparticles.