Role of mexidol (2-ethyl-6-methyl-3-hydroxypyridine succinate) in the obtaining of stabilized magnetite nanoparticles for biomedical application

Abstract

Magnetite nanoparticles (NPs) are studied as agents for magnetic resonance imaging, hyperthermia of malignant tumors, targeted drug delivery as well as anti-anemic action. One of the main problems of such NPs is their aggregation that requires creation of methods for magnetite NPs stabilization during preparation of liquid medicinal forms on their basis. The present work is devoted to the possibility of mexidol (2-ethyl-6-methyl-3-hydroxypyridine succinate) use for solubilization of magnetite NPs in hydrophilic medium. For this purpose, the condensate produced by electron-beam evaporation and condensation, with magnetite particles of size 5-8 nm deposited into the crystals of sodium chloride were used in conjunction with substance of mexidol (2-ethyl-6-methyl-3-hydroxypyridine succinate), and low molecular weight polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The NP condensate was dispersed in distilled water or PVP or mexidol solutions. NPs size distribution in the liquid phase of the systems was determined by photon correlation spectroscopy, iron (Fe) concentration was evaluated by atomic emission spectrometry. It is shown that in the dispersion prepared in distilled water, the major amount of NPs was of 13-120 nm in size, in mexidol solution - 270-1700 nm, in PVP solution - 30-900 nm. In the fluid containing magnetite NPs together with mexidol and PVP, the main fraction (99.9%) was characterized by the NPs size of 14-75 nm with maximum of 25 nm. This system had the highest iron concentration: it was similar to that in the sample with mexidol solution and 6.6-7.3 times higher than the concentration in the samples with distilled water or PVP. Thus, in the preparation of aqueous dispersions based on magnetite NPs condensate, mexidol provides a transition of Fe to the liquid phase in amount necessary to achieve its biological activity, and PVP stabilizes such modified NPs.