Facile synthesis of monodispersed Fe2O3 nanoparticles and its cellular uptake and cytotoxicity studies

Monodispersed Fe2O3 nanoparticles were fabricated with a facile hydrothermal synthetic route by using Fe(NO3)3 x 7H2O and glycin as reagents without using any templates or surfactants in this report. The prepared nanoparticles were pure hexagonal alpha-Fe2O3 particles from the characterization of XRD analysis. The Fe2O3 nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution and a mean diameter of - 50 nm can be well dispersed in water. Cellular uptake and cellular responses of the as-prepared Fe2O3 nanoparticles for human cancer cells have been studied. The Fe2O3 nanoparticles can be readily uptake by the cells, but no obvious oxidative damages in the cells can be detected after an incubation of 24 h. Also the treatment of Fe2O3 nanoparticles did not induce any changes in cell viability and cell proliferation. These results demonstrate that the Fe2O3 nanoparticles prepared with our method are remarkably biocompatible, which can be used as a substitute with high biosafety for the present iron oxides materials in different kinds of applications.