Ferritin up-regulation and transient ROS production in cultured brain astrocytes after loading with iron oxide nanoparticles

To investigate the cellular consequences of a prolonged cellular presence of large amounts of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) as well as the fate of such particles in brain cells, cultured primary astrocytes were loaded for 4 h with dimercaptosuccinate-coated IONPs. Subsequently, the IONP-treated cells were incubated for up to 7 days in IONP-free medium and the cell viability, metabolic parameters and iron metabolism of the cells were investigated. Despite an up to 100-fold elevated specific cellular iron content, IONP-loaded cells remained viable throughout the 7 day main incubation and did not show any substantial alteration in glucose and glutathione metabolism. During the incubation, the high cellular iron content of IONP-loaded astrocytes remained almost constant. Electron microscopy revealed that after 7 days of incubation most of the cellular iron was still present in IONP-filled vesicles. However, the transient appearance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as a strong increase in cellular levels of the iron storage protein ferritin suggest that at least some low-molecular-weight iron was liberated from the accumulated IONPs. These results demonstrate that even the prolonged presence of large amounts of accumulated IONPs does not harm astrocytes and that these cells store IONP-derived iron in ferritin.