Mesoporous iron oxide nanoparticles prepared by polyacrylic acid etching and their application in gene delivery to mesenchymal stem cells

Novel monodisperse mesoporous iron oxide nanoparticles (m-IONPs) were synthesized by a postsynthesis etching approach and characterized by electron microscopy. In this approach, solid iron oxide nanoparticles (s-IONPs) were first prepared following a solvothermal method, and then etched anisotropically by polyacrylic acid to form the mesoporous nanostructures. MTT cytotoxicity assay demonstrated that the m-IONPs have good biocompatibility with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Owing to their mesoporous structure and good biocompatibility, these monodisperse m-IONPs were used as a nonviral vector for the delivery of a gene of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) tagged with a green fluorescence protein (GFP) into the hard-to-transfect stem cells. Successful gene delivery and transfection were verified by detecting the GFP fluorescence from MSCs using fluorescence microscopy. Our results illustrated that the m-IONPs synthesized in this work can serve as a potential nonviral carrier in gene therapy where stem cells should be first transfected and then implanted into disease sites for disease treatment. Microsc. Res. Tech. 76:936-941, 2013. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.