Abstract. In this paper we investigate the internalization and cytotoxicity of nanostructured materials having the form of elongated rods, with diameter of 200 nm and lengths 1 -10 μm. The rods were made from the controlled aggregation of sub-10 nm iron oxide nanoparticles. Recently, we have shown that the nanorods inherited the superparamagnetic property of the particles. These rods can actually be moved by the application of an external magnetic field. Here we evaluate the in vitro toxicity of the magnetic nanorods by using MTT assays on NIH/3T3 mouse fibroblasts. The toxicity assays revealed that the nanorods are biocompatible, as exposed cells remained 100% viable relative to controls over a period of a few days. Optical microscopy allow to visualize the rods inside the cells and to determine their number per cell. Roughly 1/3 of the total incubated rods were uptaken by the fibroblasts.Inorganic nanomaterials and particles with enhanced optical, mechanical or magnetic attributes are currently being developed for a wide scope of applications, including catalysis, photovoltaics, coating and nanomedicine [1]. More generally, nanomaterials of different shapes and sizes are regarded as promising tools at the scale of the cell for manipulation, diagnostic and therapy. Interactions between nanomaterials and living organisms were also investigated extensively because of the concerns raised by their potential toxicity. As shown in several reviews [2,3], the risk assessment of nanomaterials towards living cells and tissues have not been fully evaluated. Among the wide variety of nanomaterials available, magnetic nanowires have received considerable attention [4][5][6][7][8]. Nanowires are anisotropic colloidal objects with submicronic diameters and lengths in the range 1 -100 μm. In specific applications such as cell separation, ferromagnetic nickel nanowires made by electrodepostion were shown to outperform magnetic beads of comparable volume [5]. However, one major drawback encountered with nickel or iron nanowires is that these objects carry a permanent magnetic moment, and are thus susceptible to aggregate in solution because of magnetic dipolar attraction [4].In the present paper, we exploit a simple and versatile waterborne synthesis process to generate magnetic nanorods [9,10]. Highly persistent rods of diameters around 200 nm and lengths comprised between 1 μm and 30 μm were fabricated by controlling the assembly of sub-10 nm iron oxide nanoparticles. These magnetic nanorods are different from the ferrimagnetic electrodeposited wires mentioned previously. The rods are superparamagnetic i.e. they do not carry a permanent magnetic moment, which prevents their spontaneous aggregation in a dispersion [9,11]. Since these rods are designed to be used as micromechanical tools at the cellular level, their interactions with living cells
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