Evaluation of the toxicity and cisplatin drug release ability of nanocomposites of polyethylene glycol and carbon nanotubes functionalized with Zn2+ ions

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been used to prepare drug nanocarriers. Zinc (Zn) ions play a crucial role in biological processes. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a biopolymer used in the medical field. In this work, the synthesis of ion Zn-ion-functionalized CNTs/PEG nanocomposites is described. The prepared nanocomposites were characterized using the FE-SEM, FT-IR, XPS, and DSC techniques. The ability of the prepared nanocomposites to release the anticancer drug cisplatin (CP) was assessed. The cytotoxicity of the studied nanocomposites loaded or unloaded with CP toward HeLa cells was evaluated, and their capacity to inhibit the growth of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was determined. The cytotoxicity tests show that HeLa cells showed considerably larger decrease in cell viability owing to exposure to CP compared to that owing to exposure to Zn-ion-functionalized CNTs/PEG nanocomposites.