Synthesis and characterization of Sr2+ and Gd3+ doped magnetite nanoparticles for magnetic hyperthermia and drug delivery application

Abstract

Commendable efforts have been gingered towards the fight against cancer. Nevertheless, it remains a major public health concern due to its predominant cause of death globally. Given this, we synthesized two different nanoparticles, Sr2+ and Gd3+ doped magnetite for magnetic hyperthermia and drug delivery application. Based on the characterization, the diffractogram shows that only one phase related to magnetite with a crystallite size of 10 nm was formed. TEM images revealed nanoparticles of spherical shapes of approximately 12 nm. There is no difference in magnetic saturation of the as-received synthesized samples (Fe3O4@Sr and Fe3O4@Gd), while the BET-specific surface area of Fe3O4@Gd is 8 m2 g−1 higher than Fe3O4@Sr. The heat generation in alternating magnetic field (the magnetic hyperthermia) of Fe3O4@Sr functionalized with citric acid and loaded with 5- fluorouracil (Fe3O4@Sr@CA@5-flu) is slower than Fe3O4@Gd@CA@5-flu. The specific absorption rate (SAR) of Fe3O4@Gd@CA@5-flu, 112.0 ± 10.4 W g−1 was found to be higher than that of Fe3O4@Sr@CA@5-flu. The thermogram shows that 11% of the drug was successfully loaded on Fe3O4@Gd@CA@5-flu. The release of the antitumor drug by the synthesized nanoparticle drug carriers for ovarian cancer (SKOV-3 cells) therapy showed that more than 50% of the cancer cell’s viability was reduced after 72 h of incubation. The synthesized nanoparticles demonstrated a promising drug carrier for the treatment of SKOV-3 cells.