Kevin S.
Tang1, Erik M. Shapiro2
1Department of Biomedical Engineering,
Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States; 2Department of
Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT,
United States
Magnetic
cell labeling with MPIOs is well established, however, current protocols
employ long labeling times. Incubation of negatively charged iron oxide
nanoparticles with positively charged transfection agents, such as
poly-l-lysine (PLL) increases labeling efficiency. Therefore, it was
hypothesized that pre-incubating MPIOs with various quantities of PLL would
similarly enhance the rate of magnetic cell labeling. Indeed, it was discovered
that MPIO complexation with PLL yielded positive zeta potential. Furthermore,
cells labeled with MPIO:PLL complexes were fully labeled after only two hours
incubation, whereas negatively charged MPIOs labeled only 20%, even after
four hours.