Magnetically triggered drug release from nanoparticles and its applications in anti-tumor treatment

Abstract

The objective of this study was to describe the magnetic nanoparticle–drug conjugates for improved control of drug delivery and drug release. The widely used anticancer agent Doxorubicin (DOX) was successfully conjugated via amine groups to the carboxylic functional groups coating magnetic nanoparticles (fluidMAG-CMX). Following purification of the nanoparticles, the conjugation of DOX on fluidMAG-CMX was confirmed using FTIR spectroscopy and confocal microscopy. The observed drug loading capacity of DOX was 22.3%. Studies of magnetically triggered release were performed under an oscillating magnetic field (OMF). DOX exhibited a significant release percentage of 70% under an OMF, as compared with the release in enzyme. A magnetic field turn-on and turn-off experiment was also conducted to confirm the control of drug release using this triggered system. In vivo experiments indicated that the tumor-inhibitory rate of CMX–DOX NPs under a magnetic field was higher than the other control groups. According to the toxicity assessments, CMX–DOX NPs were not noticeably toxic to mice at our tested dose.