It is widely accepted that magnetic fields have an influence on cell behaviors, but the effects are still not very clear since the magnetic field's type, intensity and exposure time are different. In this study, a static magnetic field (SMF) in moderate intensity (10 mT) was employed to investigate its effect on osteoblast and 313 fibroblast cell behaviors cultured respectively with magnetic polymer nanofiber mats. The magnetic mats composed of random oriented or aligned polymer nanofibers were fabricated by electrospinning the mixed solution of poly-D, L-lactide (PLA) and iron oxide nanoparticles. The fiber morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the nanoparticle distribution in fiber matrix was measured with transmission electron microscope (TEM). Mechanical properties of nanofiber mats are studied by uniaxial tensile test. The results showed the nanofibers loaded with magnetic nanoparticles displayed excellent magnetic responsibility and biodegradability. In vitro cytotoxicity analysis demonstrated that the osteoblast proliferation of all fiber mats stimulated with or without SMF was increased with the increase of the culturing days. Furthermore, in the horizontal SMFs, cell orientation tended to deviate from nanofiber orientation to field direction while the nanofiber orientation is perpendicular to the field direction, while the horizonal direction of SMFs could also direct the cell growth orientation. The magnetic nanofiber mats provide a potential platform to explore the cell behaviors under the stimulation of external magnetic field. (C) 2013 Elsevier. B.V. All rights reserved.