Polyacrylamide ferrogels with embedded maghemite nanoparticles for biomedical engineering

Abstract

This study addresses the development of gel-based magnetic material in the purposes of biomedical applications in the fields of tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, drugs delivery and magnetic biosensing. Ferrogels were synthesized by radical polymerization of acrylamide in a stable aqueous suspension of γ-Fe2.04O2.96 nanoparticles (NPs) fabricated by the laser target evaporation technique. Gel network density was set to 1:100, the concentrations of imbedded NPs (average mean diameter of about 11 nm) were fixed at 0.00, 0.25 or 0.75% by weight. Saturation magnetization of the gels showed a linear dependence on concentration of NPs. The main task of proposed investigation was to determine the contribution of the presence of NPs to the change of the physical properties of gels and their biocompatibility. We found that the gradual increase of NPs concentration in the gel network resulted in the significant increase of the gel's Young modulus, effective viscosity, negative value of electrical potential and adhesion index for both the human dermal fibroblasts and the human peripheral blood leucocytes. We concluded that from viewpoint of biomedical applications, the inclusion of small amount of NPs into the polymer network significantly enhances the mechanical and electrical properties of ferrogels, and improves biocompatibility of these systems. © 2017 The Authors