Safe and efficient delivery of therapeutic cells to sites of injury/disease in the central nervous system is a key goal for the translation of
clinical cell transplantation therapies. Recently, ‘magnetic cell localization strategies' have emerged as a promising and safe approach for
targeted delivery of magnetic particle (MP) labeled stem cells to pathology sites. For neuroregenerative applications, this approach is limited
by the lack of available neurocompatible MPs, and low cell labeling achieved in neural stem/precursor populations. We demonstrate that high
magnetite content, self-sedimenting polymeric MPs [unfunctionalized poly(lactic acid) coated, without a transfecting component] achieve
efficient labeling (≥90%) of primary neural stem cells (NSCs)—a ‘hard-to-label’ transplant population of major clinical relevance. Our
protocols showed high safety with respect to key stem cell regenerative parameters. Critically, labeled cells were effectively localized in an
in vitro flow system by magnetic force highlighting the translational potential of the methods used.