The Cytotoxicity of Dextran-coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles on Hela and MCF-7 Cancerous Cell Lines

Background: Recently, iron oxide nanoparticles have attracted attention in various diagnosis and treatment fields. The aim of the present study was to investigate the cytotoxicity of various concentrations and incubation times of dextran-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (DIONPs) on HeLa and MCF-7 cancerous cell lines. Methods: This in-vitro study was conducted at Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran in 2016. The dextran-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (DIONPs) uptake and cytotoxicity at different concentrations (10, 40 and 80 µg/ml) and different incubation times (6, 12 and 24 h) were assessed on HeLa and MCF-7 cell lines. The viability of the cells was measured by MTT assay. Results: DIONPs entered into the HeLa and MCF-7 cells. After 6, 12 and 24 h incubation times and in all concentrations, the viability of HeLa cells was more than 94%. For MCF-7 cell line, increasing incubation time from 6 to 24 h at a concentration of 10 μg/ml decreased the cells viability from 98% to 95%. When the cells were exposed to concentrations of 40 and 80 μg/ml of the nanoparticles, significant reductions in the cells viability was observed from 98% to 91.6% and from 95% to 88%, respectively. Conclusion: DIONPs cytotoxicity increased by increasing the incubation time from 6 to 24 h and also increased with increasing the nanoparticles concentration from 0 to 80 μg/ml. In general, DIONPs did not cause considerable toxicity in both cell lines especially at lower concentrations. Therefore, these nanoparticles are good candidates for use in biomedical and cancer research studies.