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Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles are biocompatible, non-toxic, and easily functionalized. Coating them with mesoporous silica (mSiO2) offers high surface area, pore volume, and tunable surface chemistry for drug loading. In this study, Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized and coated with mSiO2 shells enriched with calcium ions (Ca2+), aiming to enhance bioactivity for bone regeneration and tissue engineering. Different synthesis routes were tested to optimize shell formation Their characterization confirmed the presence of a crystalline Fe3O4 core with partial conversion to maghemite (Fe2O3) post-coating. The silica shell was mostly amorphous and the optimized samples exhibited mesoporous structure (type IVb). Calcium incorporation slightly altered the magnetic properties without significantly affecting core crystallinity or particle size (11.68–13.56 nm). VSM analysis displayed symmetric hysteresis loops and decreased saturation magnetization after coating and Ca2+ addition. TEM showed spherical morphology with some agglomeration. MTT assays confirmed overall non-toxicity, except for mild cytotoxicity at high concentrations in the Ca2+-enriched sample synthesized by a modified Stöber method. Their capacity to induce human periodontal ligament cell osteogenic differentiation, further supports the potential of Fe3O4/mSiO2/Ca2+ core–shell nanoparticles as promising candidates for bone-related biomedical applications due to their favorable magnetic, structural, and biological properties.
Kordonidou et al. (Thu,) studied this question.