Inducing cells to disperse nickel nanowires via integrin-mediated responses.

Anirudh Sharma, Gregory M Orlowski, Yuechen Zhu, Daniel Shore, Seung Yeon Kim, Michael D DiVito, Allison Hubel, Bethanie J H Stadler

Index: Nanotechnology 26(13) , 135102, (2015)

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Abstract

We present non-cytotoxic, magnetic, Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD)-functionalized nickel nanowires (RGD-nanowires) that trigger specific cellular responses via integrin transmembrane receptors, resulting in dispersal of the nanowires. Time-lapse fluorescence and phase contrast microscopy showed that dispersal of 3 μm long nanowire increased by a factor of 1.54 with functionalization by RGD, compared to polyethylene glycol (PEG), through integrin-specific binding, internalization and proliferation in osteosarcoma cells. Further, a 35.5% increase in cell density was observed in the presence of RGD-nanowires, compared to an increase of only 15.6% with PEG-nanowires. These results promise to advance applications of magnetic nanoparticles in drug delivery, hyperthermia, and cell separation where uniformity and high efficiency in cell targeting is desirable.