Towards anti-angiogenic activity of NiFe2O4 nanoparticles

In this study, NiFe2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared using the polymeric precursor method and calcined at 500°C for 4 h with (S– NiFe2O4) and without (NiFe2O4) CTAB as a surfactant, respectively. The magnetic and biological properties were evaluated based on the (micro)structure and electronic structure of the NPs. On sample S–NiFe2O4, the significant increase in magnetization saturation (Ms ~ 61.84 emu/g), magnetic remanence (Mr ~ 4.30 emu/g), and coercivity (Hc ~ 0.475 kOe) in comparison to sample NiFe2O4 (Ms ~ 24.81 emu/g, Mr ~ 1.00 emu/g, and Hc ~ 0.475 kOe) at room temperature (300 K) may be associated with the presence of oxygen vacancies the spinel lattice of NiFe2O4, generating magnetic moments. The concentration of 1 μg/mL S–NiFe2O4 decreased in ~50% angiogenesis in the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). S–NiFe2O4 NPs showed high blood vessel affinity and anti-angiogenic activity; hence, effectively concentrating on tumoral vessels, which may enhance drug effectivity and enable simultaneous treatments, image diagnosis of solid tumors, etc. Thus, our results suggest that CTAB addition is an effective way to tune its magnetic response due to its excellent biocompatibility, high bulk saturation magnetization, and low magnetic anisotropy.