Synthesis and characterization of chitosan–polyvinylpyrrolidone–bovine serum albumin-coated magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as potential carrier for delivery of tamoxifen

Abstract

The proposed study examined the preparation of chitosan (CS)–polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)–bovine serum albumin (BSA)-coated magnetic iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles (Fe3O4–CS–PVP–BSA) to use as potential drug delivery carriers for delivery of tamoxifen drug (TAM) . The anticancer drug selected in this study was tamoxifen which can be used for the human breast cancer treatment. These prepared nanoparticles were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, AFM, TEM, CD and VSM techniques. The swelling studies have been measured at different (10, 20, 30, 40, 50%) drug loading. The mean particle size of the tamoxifen-loaded nanoparticles system (Fe3O4–CS–TAM, Fe3O4–CS–TAM–PVP and Fe3O4–CS–TAM–PVP–BSA) as measured by Malvern Zetasizer ranged between 350 ± 2.3 and 601 ± 1.7 nm. As well as these drug-loaded nanoparticles were positively charged. The zeta potential was in the range of 28.9 ± 3.5 and 50.8 ± 3.9 mV. The encapsulation efficiency was between 63.60 ± 2.11 and 96.45 ± 2.12%. Furthermore, in vitro release and drug loading efficiency from the nanoparticles were investigated. The cytotoxicity of prepared nanoparticles was verified by MTT assay. In vitro release studies were executed in 4.0 and 7.4 pH media to simulate the intestinal and gastric conditions and different temperature (37 and 42 °C). Hence, the prepared tamoxifen-loaded nanoparticles system (Fe3O4–CS–TAM, Fe3O4–CS–TAM–PVP and Fe3O4–CS–TAM–PVP–BSA) could be a promising candidate in cancer therapy.