Development and characterization of sodium alginate-g-poly(acrylic acid-co-2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonic acid)/locust bean gum microbeads containing nickel ferrite nanoparticles for pH-responsive release of doxorubicin

Abstract

The development of bioactive agent-loaded polymeric carriers offering pH-responsive has substantial potential value for biomedical applications. In light of this, we have designed pH-responsive polymeric microbeads as a vehicle for applications involving the drug delivery. At first, sodium alginate (SA) is grafted with acrylic acid and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonic acid (AMPS) to generate SA-g-(AA-Co-AMPS). Next to functionalise NiFe2O4 nanoparticles with amino groups, nickel ferrite nanoparticles are treated with diethylene triamine and amine-nickel ferrite nanoparticles (ANiFe-NPs) are generated. Finally, we used the gelation ionic technique to develop microbeads using SA-g-(AA-Co-AMPS), locust bean gum (LBG), and ANiFe-NPs. By using FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM, TGA, and DSC, the amino-nickel ferrite nanoparticles, SA-g-(AA-Co-AMPS), and microbeads were characterised. At pH 7.4 and 1.2, using doxorubicin (DOX) as a model agent in vitro drug release studies were conducted and the findings showed that the synthesized microbeads were proper for gastrointestinal drug administration. The developed microbeads were tested on MCF-7 cells and generated a considerable amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS), had a significant cytotoxicity effect on MCF-7 cells. The generated microbeads warrant further development and optimization to mediate pH-responsive drug release carriers.