Catalytic Degradation of Organic Dyes Indicates Anti-Proliferative Effects of Magnetoelectric Nanoparticles

Over the past decade, magnetoelectric nanoparticles (MENPs) have proven effective in generating local electric fields in response to stimulation with a magnetic field. The applications of such nanoparticles are many and varied, with examples of prior research including use for on-demand drug release, wireless modulation and recording of neural activity, and organic dye degradation. This study investigates the potential for organic dye degradation to be used as a rapid and efficient screening tool to detect the magnetoelectric effect of MENPs, and how the results of such a test mirror the antiproliferative effect of said nanoparticles. Trypan blue was selected as an azo dye to test for dye degradation. Vials of the dye were treated with CoFe2O4@BaTiO3 core-shell MENPs of varying characteristics, both with and without concurrent 1-kHz 250-Oe magnetic stimulation. Dye degradation was measured using ultraviolet (UV)-vis spectroscopy. Dye degradation efficacy varied with varying nanoparticle synthesis parameters. As controls, nanoparticles of the same composition, but with an insignificant magnetoelectric effect, were used. SKOV-3 ovarian cancer cells were then treated with the same nanoparticles, and viability was measured with an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) assay. These measurements show a decrease in cell viability up to 60.3% of control (<i>p</i> = 0.0052), which mirrored the efficacy of dye degradation of up to 69.8% (<i>p</i> = 0.0037) in each of the particle variants, demonstrating the value of azo dye degradation as a simple screening test for MENPs, and showing the potential of MENPs used as wirelessly controlled nanodevices to allow targeted electric field-based treatments.