Abstract

The development of various magnetically-responsive nanostructures is of great importance in biomedicine. The controlled assembly of many small superparamagnetic nanocrystals into large multi-core clusters is needed for effective magnetic drug delivery. Here, we present a novel one-pot method for the preparation of multi-core clusters for drug delivery (i.e., magnetic nanocarriers). The method is based on hot homogenization of a hydrophobic phase containing a nonpolar surfactant into an aqueous phase, using ultrasonication. The solvent-free hydrophobic phase that contained tetradecan-1-ol, γ-Fe2O3 nanocrystals, orlistat, and surfactant was dispersed into a warm aqueous surfactant solution, with the formation of small droplets. Then, a pre-cooled aqueous phase was added for rapid cooling and the formation of solid magnetic nanocarriers. Two different nonpolar surfactants, polyethylene glycol dodecyl ether (B4) and our own N1,N1-dimethyl-N2-(tricosan-12-yl)ethane-1,2-diamine (SP11), were investigated for the preparation of MC-B4 and MC-SP11 magnetic nanocarriers, respectively. The nanocarriers formed were of spherical shape, with mean hydrodynamic sizes <160 nm, good colloidal stability, and high drug loading (7.65 wt.%). The MC-B4 nanocarriers showed prolonged drug release, while no drug release was seen for the MC-SP11 nanocarriers over the same time frame. Thus, the selection of a nonpolar surfactant for preparation of magnetic nanocarriers is crucial to enable drug release from nanocarrier.

Highlights

  • The continuous development of novel approaches to materials synthesis offers innovative solutions for many of the present challenges in the life sciences [1,2,3]

  • Two magnetic nanocarrier formulations that differed in their surfactants and were loaded with orlistat were successfully developed using one-pot preparation method

  • This method is based on hot homogenization of the hydrophobic phase that contains nonpolar surfactant into the aqueous phase by ultrasonication

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Summary

Introduction

The continuous development of novel approaches to materials synthesis offers innovative solutions for many of the present challenges in the life sciences [1,2,3]. Nanocrystals are the building blocks of composite or hybrid nanostructures, and they offer an innovative option to solve important challenges in medical diagnostics and therapeutics [4,5,6]. Among a number of promising inorganic nanocrystals, only magnetic iron oxide nanocrystals have generally been recognized as safe for human use by the regulatory agencies [7]. They should be precisely designed to avoid reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in vivo. It was recently shown that the production of ROS was greatly dependent on a number of factors, including the size of the nanoparticles, concentration, surface properties and, importantly, the coating used [8,9]

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