Effect of Gold/Fe₃O₄ Nanoparticles on Biocompatibility and Neural Differentiation of Rat Olfactory Bulb Neural Stem Cells

Transplantation of stem cells is a potential clinical therapy for repair of central nervous system injury. However, transplanted cells are especially difficult to arrive at the targeted site because of poor survival rate and low efficiency. Recently, gold nanoparticles (NPs) and Iron oxide NPs, as novel nanoparticles, have been used as auxiliary strategy to investigate the nervous system diseases. The present study demonstrates the effect of Gold/Fe ₃O₄ NPs on biocompatibility and differentiated properties of rat olfactory bulb stem cells. Cell viability was assumed by MTT test and cytotoxicity was assessed by Hoechst 33342-PI stain. Cells were cultured at Gold/Fe₃O₄ NPs concentration range of 40 to 200 g/10 ⁴ cells for 24 h. Differentiation was assessed by NSE (a neuronal marker) stain. Results showed that Gold/Fe₃O₄ NPs at the concentrations of 40 g/10⁴ cells enhanced cell viability and decreased the cell death rate. Furthermore, the differentiation properties were detected by NSE marker. These findings suggest that Gold/Fe₃O ₄ NPs may thus be used as new nanotechnologies in stem-cell-based transplantation therapies for diagnosis and treatment of central nervous system diseases.