In vitro studies of Pluronic F127 coated magnetic silica nanocarriers for drug delivery system targeting liver cancer

Abstract

In this study we synthesized and characterized iron oxide and mesoporous silica coated with Pluronic F127 nanocarriers using hydrothermal technique. The prepared nanoparticles were used as carriers for doxorubixin (DOX). The dynamic light scattering (DLS) of MNPs, MNPs-SiO2-F127-2% and MNPs-SiO2-F127-4% showed an average particle sizes of about 98.9, 127.6, and 136.2 nm, respectively. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis demonstrated that the as-prepared nanocarriers were crystalline, and the diffraction peak at 2θ = 35.44° in the XRD profiles of the nanocarriers corresponded to the (311) plane of Fe3O4. The peaks in the wavenumber range of 1630–1091 cm−1 observed in the Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of the synthesized nanocarriers corresponded to the stretching vibration bands of Si–O bonds, demonstrating the successful coating of SiO2 on the surface of MNPs. The X-ray absorption near-edge spectra (XANES) of Fe atoms of MNPs, MNPs-SiO2-F127-2% and MNPs-SiO2-F127-4% revealed the presence of an absorbance peak (7112 eV) characteristic to the 1 s-to-3d transition. Cytotoxicity test confirmed that MNPs, MNPs-SiO2-F127-2% and MNPs-SiO2-F127-4% at different concentrations showed no significant cell toxicity toward the HEK293T and HepG2 cells. Additionally, MTT reduction results revealed that, after DOX was encapsulated in MNPs-SiO2-F127-2% and MNPs-SiO2-F127-4% nanocarriers, cell apoptosis was increased. In vitro analysis of the DOX release profile revealed that drug release was pH-dependent, and more DOX was released in acidic than in neutral microenvironments. In this study, we aimed to develop an advanced and innovative treatment against liver cancer using nanocarriers for DOX delivery. The developed drug delivery system or nanocarriers could improve the targeted DOX delivery for typical cancer treatment.