Iron oxide nanoparticles show no toxicity in the comet assay in lymphocytes: A promising vehicle as a nitric oxide releasing nanocarrier in biomedical applications

This work reports the synthesis and toxicological evaluation of surface modified magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as vehicles to carry and deliver nitric oxide (NO). The surface of the magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) was coated with two thiol-containing hydrophilic ligands: mercaptosuccinic acid (MSA) or dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), leading to thiolated MNPs. Free thiols groups on the surface of MSA- or DMSA-MNPs were nitrosated leading to NO-releasing MNPs. The genotoxicity of thiolated-coated MNPs was evaluated towards human lymphocyte cells by the comet assay. No genotoxicity was observed due to exposure of human lymphocytes to MSA- or DMSA-MNPs, indicating that these nanovectors can be used as inert vehicles in drug delivery, in biomedical applications. On the other hand, NO-releasing MPNs showed genotoxicity and apoptotic activities towards human lymphocyte cell cultures. These results indicate that NO-releasing MNPs may result in important biomedical applications, such as the treatment of tumors, in which MNPs can be guided to the target site through the application of an external magnetic field, and release NO directly to the desired site of action.