from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
Magnetic nanoparticles are widely studied as potential therapeutic vectors in a number of conditions including neurodegenerative diseases – Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s disease. These diseases are known for production of aberant protein forms with β-amyloid structure. The ability to cross blood-brain barrier and the possibility of surface modification present unique opportunity to use high frequency electromagnetic hyperthermia to destroy such amyloids, which we investigated in this study. Starch covered 100 nm magnetite nanoparticles can be heated to hyperthermic temperatures by 3.5 MHz alternating electromagnetic field. Hen egg-white lysozyme amyloid fibrils were prepared in acidic conditions. Micromolar amounts of magnetic nanoparticles, ensured heating of the mixture in electromagnetic field and we evaluated effect of hyperthermia on fibrils from absorbance peak shift from 490 nm to 540 nm in Congo red spectra, which is present when the dye binds with amyloid fibrils. Up to 40-45 µL of 25 mg·mL-1 magnetic nanoparticles in 1 mL of hen egg-white amyloid fibrils did not have any considerable effect on the fibrils, but amounts larger than 50 µL exhibited ability to destroy the fibrils to such an extent that no red shift in Congo red spectra was observed.Among other beneficial properties of magnetic nanoparticles is their ability to act as peroxidases which can also prove to be beneficial in neurodegenerative diseases. Evidence suggests involvement of ROS, to which hydrogen peroxide contributes in various ways. We investigated peroxidase activity of 100 nm starch-covered magnetite nanoparticles using o-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride as a chromogen. The results were interpreted using Michaelis-Menten kinetics.
Keywords: Magnetic nanoparticles, neurodegenerative diseases, amyloid fibrils, hyperthermia, peroxidase activity© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.