Magnetic torque on cell membrane by MNPs

[TESL@]

Hello,

Suppose sinosodial AC and pulsed DC magnetic fields with equal rms are applied on animal cells in the presence of magnetic nanoparticles. For the mean field strengths to be equal, the peak value of the square wave (with 50% duty cycles) must be sqrt. 2, which means that the maxiumum field strength of DC will be higher than that of AC. This will lead to a greater torque on the nanoparticles.

My question is if the nanoparticles are near or attached to cell membrane, will the elastic stress on the membrane be responsible for more nanoparticle entering cell than AC field? I can predict such mechanism but I need reliable sources. Any piece of information is appreciated,

Thank you.

edit: Question2. If you know anything about magnetic fields affecting the permeability of cell membrane, please share.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Perhaps it's my lack of knowledge wrt electrical and magnetic engineering but I can't quite tell what you are proposing. Magnetic nanoparticles are an active area of research for drug delivery, have you looked into this at all? You can easily find a lot of literature. Here's a fairly recent review on the topic:

Magnetic nanoparticles and drug delivering, 2010
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043661810000289

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are being of great interest due to their unique purposes. Especially in medicine, application of MNPs is much promising. MNPs have been actively investigated as the next generation of targeted drug delivery for more than thirty years. The importance of targeted drug delivery and targeted drug therapy is to transport a drug directly to the centre of the disease under various conditions and thereby treat it deliberately, with no effects on the body. Usage of MNPs depends largely on the preparation processes to select optimal conditions and election agents to modify their surface. This review summarizes the most commonly used functionalization methods of the MNPs preparation methods and their use in targeted drug delivery and targeted therapy.

 

[TESL@]

Ryan m b, I am quite into the subject but thank you anyways. I am asking for an explanation of nanoparticles inside pulsed DC penetrating the membrane more than AC fields, preferably with examples.

 

[Dale]

Why would increased max torque preferentially cause particles to enter the cell?

Cellular uptake of superparamagnetic iron oxide particles has quite a bit of literature. It seems that the predominant pathway is through endocytosis. I don't know how torque would affect endocytosis. That is a process that is more mediated by surface chemicals and labels and so forth. Here is a tutorial:

http://www.jnanobiotechnology.com/content/pdf/1477-3155-11-S1-S7.pdf