(31b) Surface Effects of Ultrasmall Nanoparticle on Cellular Uptake, Proliferation, and Multipotency of Neural Stem Cells

Ultrasmall iron oxide nanoparticles (USIONPs) have been recently developed as novel labelling probes as positive contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, their use in stem cell tracking have not been reported. Here, we studied the effects of USIONP surface coatings on proliferation, cellular uptake, and multipontency of established neural stem cells (NSCs) and primary NSCs. USIONPs were functionalized with gluconic acid (GA), tannic acid (TA), and hyaluronic acid (HA) to label NSCs. All functionalized USIONPs were characterized as T1 contrast agents via relaxivity measurements. Nanoparticles functionalized with TA and HA-coating promoted NSC proliferation and enhanced cellular uptake in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, HA-coating showed enhanced cell proliferation and cellular uptake in primary NSCs depending on the HA molecular weight. Stem cell characteristics were well-maintained, verified by neurosphere formation and gene expression levels of stemness and differentiation markers. Collectively, we demonstrated that NSC proliferation, cellular uptake, and multipotency can be enhanced using various surface coating strategy of USIONPs.