1 © 2014 Astro Ltd Printed in the UK 1. Introduction Hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) and SiO 2 nanoparticles (NPs) are cur- rently employed as drug delivery vehicles to overcome deficiency of localization of drug in several ways, such as imaging, therapy sensing and drug delivery [1–3]. In addition, nanobioscience is the investigation of interactions between nanodimensional structures and microbiological entities such as cells, biomolecules and tissues [4]. The integration of nanotechnology and biology provides the opportunity for the development of new materials in the nanometer size range with many potential applications in biological sciences Laser Physics Apoptotic effect of α-Fe 2 O 3 and SiO 2 nanoparticles in human rhabdomyosarcoma cell line Mahvish Fatima 1 , Muhammad Fakhar-e-Alam 2 , M Atif 3,4 , Muhammad Nadeem Shakoor 2 , Muhammad Afzal 1 , Muhammad Waseem 5 and Muhammad Hammad Aziz 5 1 Department of Physics, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan 2 Department of Physics, GC University Faisalabad, Pakistan 3 Department of Physics and Astronomy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 4 National Institute of Lasers and Optronics, Islamabad, Pakistan 5 Department of Physics, COMSATS Institute of Information and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan E-mail: fakharphy@gmail.com, atifhull@gmail.com and ham_great@hotmail.com Received 30 January 2014, revised 24 August 2014 Accepted for publication 25 August 2014 Published 9 October 2014 Abstract Nanotechnology provides the opportunity for the development of new materials in the nanometer size range, with many potential applications in biological sciences and clinical medicine. It has been reported that RD (muscle cancer cell line) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children originating from immature cells, comprising 2.9% of all malignancies in patients younger than 20 years old, with 350 cases diagnosed annually in the United States. Soft tissue is the most common target organ for nanoparticles after they gain significant entry into the target site through any of the possible routes. RD cell lines have been used as an experimental biological model in this article. A suitable environment was provided until 75% of RD cell confluence was reached. Prior to determination of toxicity of hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) and SiO 2 nanoparticles, the sizes and shapes were confirmed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the sizes were about 66 and 250 nm respectively. Moreover, 10–80 μg ml −1 of α-Fe 2 O 3 and SiO 2 nanoparticles dispersed in solution were labeled for each row of 96 well plates. The present study evaluates the suppression factor of the said particles, which leads to cell killing phenomena. After successful measurements in the above mentioned experiment, the author will be able to give the actual cause of cell killing effects. The given study has provided valuable insights into a feasible mechanism of apoptosis caused by α-Fe 2 O 3 and SiO 2 nanoparticles. An underlying promising mechanism of apoptosis due to α-Fe 2 O 3 and SiO 2 nanoparticle exposure should be further investigated at the in vivo level. Keywords: hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) and SiO 2 nanoparticles, RD cell line (muscle carcinoma), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal) Astro Ltd 1054-660X/14/125602+5$33.00 doi:10.1088/1054-660X/24/12/125602 Laser Phys. 24 (2014) 125602 (5pp)