Physiological Remediation of Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles by Ferritin

Metallic nanoparticles have been increasingly suggested as prospective therapeutic nanoplatforms, yet their long-term fate and cellular processing in the body is poorly understood. Here we examined the role of an endogenous iron storage protein – namely the ferritin – in the remediation of biodegradable cobalt ferrite magnetic nanoparticles. Structural and elemental analysis of ferritins close to exogenous nanoparticles within spleens and livers of mice injected in vivo with cobalt ferrite nanoparticles, suggests the intracellular transfer of degradation-derived cobalt and iron, entrapped within endogenous protein cages. In addition, the capacity of ferritin cages to accommodate and store the degradation products of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles was investigated in vitro in the acidic environment mimicking the physiological conditions that are present within the lysosomes. The magnetic, colloidal and structural follow-up of nanoparticles and proteins in the lysosome-like medium confirmed the efficient remediation of nanoparticle-released cobalt and iron ions by ferritins in solution. Metal transfer into ferritins could represent a quintessential process in which biomolecules and homeostasis regulate the local degradation of nanoparticles and recycle their by-products.