Ni-Cu Nanoparticles and Their Feasibility for Magnetic Hyperthermia

Abstract

Ni-Cu nanoparticles have been synthesized by reducing Ni and Cu from metal precursors using a sol–gel route followed by annealing at 300 °C for 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, and 10 h for controlled self-regulating magnetic hyperthermia applications. Particle morphology and crystal structure revealed spherical nanoparticles with a cubic structure and an average size of 50, 60, 53, 87, and 87 nm for as-made and annealed samples at 300 °C for 1, 3, 6, and 10 h, respectively. Moreover, hysteresis loops indicated ferromagnetic behavior with saturation magnetization (Ms) ranging from 13–20 emu/g at 300 K. Additionally, Zero-filed cooled and field cooled (ZFC-FC) curves revealed that each sample contains superparamagnetic nanoparticles with a blocking temperature (TB) of 196–260 K. Their potential use for magnetic hyperthermia was tested under the therapeutic limits of an alternating magnetic field. The samples exhibited a heating rate ranging from 0.1 to 1.7 °C/min and a significant dissipated heating power measured as a specific absorption rate (SAR) of 6–80 W/g. The heating curves saturated after reaching the Curie temperature (Tc), ranging from 30–61 °C within the therapeutic temperature limit. An in vitro cytotoxicity test of these Ni-Cu samples in biological tissues was performed via exposing human breast cancer MDA-MB231 cells to a gradient of concentrations of the sample with 53 nm particles (annealed at 300 °C for 3 h) and reviewing their cytotoxic effects. For low concentrations, this sample showed no toxic effects to the cells, revealing its biocompatibility to be used in the future for in vitro/in vivo magnetic hyperthermia treatment of cancer.

Theoretical Study on Specific Loss Power and Heating Temperature in CoFe2O4 Nanoparticles as Possible Candidate for Alternative Cancer Therapy by Superparamagnetic Hyperthemia

“…However, the effectiveness and efficiency of superparamagnetic hyperthermia in destroying tumor cells depends very much on the magnetic nanoparticles used for it. Most viable results have been obtained so far by using Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles (magnetite) [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39], but also other magnetically soft ferromagnetic nanoparticles (which have low magnetic anisotropy) [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51].…”

An Overview of Micronanoswarms for Biomedical Applications

“…In addition, Ni−Cu nanoparticle swarms were developed for MH of cancer. 100 As shown in Figure 4b2, the death rate of breast cancer cells increased with the concentration of nanoparticles and incubation time.…”

“…The left image shows Ni–Cu nanoparticle swarms, and the bar chart indicates the death rate of cancer cells using the swarm. Adapted with permission under a Creative Commons CC-BY license from ref . Copyright 2020 MDPI.…”

Photodynamic Therapy and Hyperthermia in Combination Treatment—Neglected Forces in the Fight against Cancer

“…Ni-Cu is an example of a molecule that can be used for this purpose. Low concentrations are not toxic, in high concentrations, a toxic effect on neoplastic cells is observed [ 252 ]. Another interesting aspect of nanomedicine and nanotechnology is the use of nano thermometers that can determine the temperatures of solutions and biological systems, even at the cellular level [ 253 ].…”