Iron oxide γ-Fe2O3 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were fabricated by laser target evaporation technique (LTE) and their structure and magnetic properties were studied. Polyacrylamide (PAAm) gels with different cross-linking density of the polymer network and polyacrylamide-based ferrogel with embedded LTE MNPs (0.34 wt.%) were synthesized. Their adhesive and proliferative potential with respect to human dermal fibroblasts were studied. At the same value of Young modulus, the adhesive and proliferative activities of the human dermal fibroblasts on the surface of ferrogel were unexpectedly much higher in comparison with the surface of PAAm gel. Properties of PAAm-100 + γ-Fe2O3 MNPs composites were discussed with focus on creation of a new generation of drug delivery systems combined in multifunctional devices, including magnetic field assisted delivery, positioning, and biosensing. Although exact applications are still under development, the obtained results show a high potential of LTE MNPs to be applied for cellular technologies and tissue engineering. PAAm-100 ferrogel with very low concentration of γ-Fe2O3 MNPs results in significant improvement of the cells’ compatibility to the gel-based scaffold.

The static magnetic field was shown to affect the proliferation, adhesion and differentiation of various types of cells, making it a helpful tool for regenerative medicine, though the mechanism of its impact on cells is not completely understood. In this work, we have designed and tested a magnetic system consisting of an equidistant set of the similar commercial permanent magnets (6 × 4 assay) in order to get insight on the potential of its experimental usage in the biological studies with cells culturing in a magnetic field. Human dermal fibroblasts, which are widely applied in regenerative medicine, were used for the comparative study of their proliferation rate on tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) and on the polyacrylamide ferrogels with 0.00, 0.63 and 1.19 wt % concentrations of γ-Fe2O3 magnetic nanoparticles obtained by the well-established technique of laser target evaporation. We used either the same batch as in previously performed but different biological experiments or the same fabrication conditions for fabrication of the nanoparticles. This adds special value to the understanding of the mechanisms of nanoparticles contributions to the processes occurring in the living systems in their presence. The magnetic field increased human dermal fibroblast cell proliferation rate on TCPS, but, at the same time, it suppressed the growth of fibroblasts on blank gel and on polyacrylamide ferrogels. However, the proliferation rate of cells on ferrogels positively correlated with the concentration of nanoparticles. Such a dependence was observed both for cell proliferation without the application of the magnetic field and under the exposure to the constant magnetic field.

Polyelectrolyte gels and ferrogels (FG) are attracting special interest in biomedicine. Here we describe our experience developing functional magnetic ferrogels for regenerative medicine and magnetoimpedance biosensing for measuring stray fields of nanoparticles in FG with a multilayered sensitive element. We discuss the possibility of developing a new generation of drug delivery systems for magnetic field assisted delivery, positioning and biosensing.

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Two series of composite polyacrylamide (PAAm) gels with embedded superparamagnetic Fe2O3 or diamagnetic Al2O3 nanoparticles were synthesized, aiming to study the direct contribution of the magnetic interactions to the ferrogel biocompatibility. The proliferative activity was estimated for the case of human dermal fibroblast culture grown onto the surfaces of these types of substrates. Spherical non-agglomerated nanoparticles (NPs) of 20–40 nm in diameter were prepared by laser target evaporation (LTE) electrophysical technique. The concentration of the NPs in gel was fixed at 0.0, 0.3, 0.6, or 1.2 wt.%. Mechanical, electrical, and magnetic properties of composite gels were characterized by the dependence of Young’s modulus, electrical potential, magnetization measurements on the content of embedded NPs. The fibroblast monolayer density grown onto the surface of composite substrates was considered as an indicator of the material biocompatibility after 96 h of incubation. Regardless of the superparamagnetic or diamagnetic nature of nanoparticles, the increase in their concentration in the PAAm composite provided a parallel increase in the cell culture proliferation when grown onto the surface of composite substrates. The effects of cell interaction with the nanostructured surface of composites are discussed in order to explain the results.

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