Epoxy functionalized small particle size superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for CD4+T cell sorting

Iron oxide nanoparticles have gained increasing attention in various biomedical and industrial sectors due to their physicochemical and magnetic properties. In this study, superparamagnetic Fe ₃ O ₄ nanoparticles with small particle size were synthesized by co-precipitation method, coated with dextran, and modified by epoxy functional groups with 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether. The prepared composites was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetry, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction,and vibrating sample magnetometry. The rat serum albumin protein(rSA) was then coupled to the epoxide group on the nanoparticle and the ability of the epoxide functional group to conjugate the Protein was tested by BCA Protein Assay Kit. At the same time, we used CD4 antibody coupled with epoxy group on the nanoparticles to detect the sorting ability of T cells by flow cytometry. This work shows that our epoxy-modified iron oxide nanoparticles have excellent potential applications in biology.