Synthesis and characterization of surface-modified ultrafine titanium dioxide nanoparticles with an antioxidant functionalized biopolymer as a therapeutic agent: Anticancer and antimicrobial evaluation

Abstract

Surface modified biodegradable protein-based nanoparticles have great potential in pharmaceutical applications. In the present study, we discuss the surface engineering of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) with alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) functionalized bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugate as a biocompatible therapeutic system. Sol-gel method is used to synthesize TiO2 NPs, which is characterized using ultraviolet (UV)/visible, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). BSA was functionalized with antioxidant ALA by Steglich esterification, and TiO2 NPs were loaded into this synthesized BSA-ALA conjugate. The finally developed product was studied using various characterization methods like UV-Visible, FT-IR, XRD, SEM-EDX, TEM, TG-DTG, DSC and fluorescence emission analysis. In vitro cytotoxicity of this system was examined by applying the trypan blue exclusion method, and antimicrobial analysis was implemented by well diffusion method against antibiotic-resistant bacterial and fungal strains.