Internalization of DMSA-Coated Fe3O4 Magnetic Nanoparticles into Mouse Macrophage Cells

This study observed the internalization of Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with meso-2, -3-dimercaptosuccinnic acid (DMSA) into mouse macrophage RAW264.7 by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Prussian blue staining. The results showed that the DMSA-coated Fe3O4 MNPs could be efficiently internalized into RAW264.7 cells. The internalized DMSA-coated Fe3O4 MNPs located in the cytoplasmic inclusions. The internalization of DMSA-coated Fe3O4 MNPs did not significantly affect the cell viability at given doses (20, 30, 40, 50 and 100 mu g/mL) and incubation times (2, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours), suggesting DMSA-coated Fe3O4 MNPs had better biocompatibility. This study demonstrated that DMSA-coated Fe3O4 MNPs may provide a potential nanomaterial for biomedical applications.