The mechanical vibration of magnetic particles under low frequency magnetic field allows for the application of mechanical stress at the cell level. This mechanical stress induces a large variety of physiological reactions from the cells depending on their nature and on the intensity of the magneto-mechanical stimulation. It has for instance a strong influence on the cells cytoskeleton that triggers a variety of cell physiological reactions. Using U87 glioma brain cancer cells, we observed that a weak stimulation induces already a disorganization of the cell cytoskeleton resulting in a cell contraction, a loss of motility and a temporary stops of the mitosis. A stronger stimulation can induce the apoptotic cell death [1, 2], which can lead to a new approach towards cancer treatment.
Studies on cancer cells were conducted in-vitro as well as in-vivo revealing quite different results for a variety of reasons. Ongoing studies are carried out on spheroids of cells embedded in 3D gels, which represent in-vitro models much closer to in-vivo situations.
Experiments were also conducted on INS1 pancreatic cells where it has been demonstrated that the magnetically induced mechanical stimulation allows enhancing insulin release, which can also open a new route towards innovative diabetes treatment [3].
[1] S. Leulmi et al., Nanoscale 7, 15904 (2015).
[2] C. Naud et al., Nanoscale Adv. 2, 3632 (2020).
[3] S. Ponomareva et al., Nanoscale 14, 13274 (2022).
| Subject : | : | Poster |
| PDF version | : |  PDF version |
