Anticancer drug carriers using dicalcium phosphate/dextran/CMCnanocomposite scaffolds

Abstract

Significant efforts have been made by biomedical researchers worldwide to design novel anticancer drug carriers. Nanocomposite scaffolds based on DCP together with dextran and carboxymethyl cellulose were processed by lyophilization of frozen dispersions and that could be promising drug carriers. The physico-chemical properties and the microstructure features of the scaffolds were evaluated by XRD, FTIR, SEM and mercury intrusion porosimetery (MIP). Zeta potential was determined to investigate the effect of DCP on the physical stability of nanocomposite samples. Moreover, the cell cytotoxicity of respective nanocomposite scaffold samples were tested in vitro against Hepg2 liver cancer cell line, and drug delivery ability was also determined in PBS. The scaffolds microstructure features were positively influenced by the presence of DCP. The physical stability of nanocomposite scaffold samples was not affected by the presence of DCP. The scaffolds containing higher concentration of DCP (D3) showed drug (paclitaxel) release profiles with a total release of about 90% compared with lower drug release in the case of DCP-low concentration scaffolds. The scaffolds loaded with drug showed impressive cytotoxicity (59.80, 71.35 and 61.86%) compared with anticancer-free scaffolds (85.14, 84.77 and 82.08%). The nanocomposite scaffolds have a great potentiality to be used as implantable scaffolds loaded with drug for the treatment of hepatic cancer.