Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Targeted Cell Seeding: Magnetic Patterning and Magnetic 3D Cell Culture

In regenerative medicine, noncontact manipulation of cells enables new possibilities for tissue engineering. Due to their physicochemical properties, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are used in biomedicine for various applications, e.g., as drug transporters, contrast agents or to make cells maneuverable by magnetic forces. SPIONs attached to and/or taken up by cells enable their magnetic targeting for adoptive immune therapies or tissue engineering. Remote control of different “magnetized” cell types can be used to construct multilayered tissues without the need for a scaffold structure. Here, the suitability of SPIONs with various coatings, such as polyacrylic acid‐co‐maleic acid (PAM), lauric acid (LA), lauric acid‐human serum albumin (HSA), and citrate to magnetize cells is compared with the commercially available NanoShuttle‐PL, designed for use in magnetic 3D cell cultures. Depending on the amount of cellular labeling, magnetic control is more or less effective. In particular, PAM‐ and citrate‐coated SPIONs achieve good cellular loading and provide magnetic controllability of cells. In 2D cell culture, the magnetic cargo allows the patterned culture of cells. In 3D, SPIONs enable and accelerate spheroid formation as well as micropatterning using unloaded and loaded cells in parallel. Magnetic nanoparticles serve in cell culture as tools to make cells controllable by magnetic forces. This feature is utilized for tissue engineering to seed cells in patterns or to form multicellular constructs in a targeted way. Here, four different superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle systems are compared with commercially available NanoShuttle‐PL concerning their effects in magnetic cell culture.