PH-sensitive ternary Fe3O4/GQDs@G hybrid microspheres; Synthesis, characterization and drug delivery application

Abstract

In this work, a simple approach used to develop new ternary gelatin-coated magnetite/graphene quantum dots hybrid microspheres (Fe3O4/GQDs@GM) as an anticancer drug carrier. Moreover, a neat gelatin microsphere (GM) was prepared to compare the performance of both prepared systems. Prepared samples were identified by using fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. photoluminescence (PL) analysis approved the PL property for the Fe3O4/GQDs@GM, as well as, the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) exhibited superparamagnetic properties for it. Study the in vitro biodegradation behavior of ternary Fe3O4/GQDs@GM in the trypsin approved its enzymatic degradation capability. 30.15% and 22.29% of curcumin (CUR) as a natural anticancer drug respectively was loaded in Fe3O4/GQDs@GM and GM. The drug release test at two different pH (7.4 and 5.0) showed the pH-sensitive drug release pattern. The biocompatibility of the prepared microspheres was confirmed by calculation the viability of the breast cancer cell (MDA-MB 231) after treatment with each microsphere. DAPI staining test revealed apoptosis on MDA-MB 231 cancer cells that treated with the drug-loaded microspheres. The results of the drug delivery and biological studies revealed an improved performance for ternary Fe3O4/GQDs@GM, therefore, it could be proposed as a biodegradable, pH-sensitive, and non-toxic vehicle for anticancer drug delivery.