Triggering Passive Molecular Transport into Cells with a Combination of Inhomogeneous Magnetic Fields and Magnetic Nanoparticles

Microporation techniques facilitate the passive transport of molecules into cells via mechanical, electrical, or magnetic simulation. In this work, a combinatorial microporation technique is demonstrated utilizing small superparamagnetic particles and inhomogeneous magnetic pulses. This microporation technique is applied to facilitate the transport of a model therapeutic agent (doxorubicin) into the U937 cancer cell line. This work demonstrates that the drug transport of doxorubicin to the U937 cancer line increases by 75% when the cells are exposed to only a few inhomogeneous magnetic pulses. The increased transport resulted in more effective destruction of the cancer cells demonstrating that the technique can be utilized to increase the effectiveness of common cancer drugs. The results also demonstrate that the presence of the magnetic particles or the presence of the magnetic fields does not show significant effect on cell viability in the presence of cancer drugs.