Abstract
This work aimed to overcome the main drawbacks of some essential anticancer drugs as 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) by controlled loading with novel drug carriers. By a differential microemulsion technique, nanosized particles derived from a copolymer of poly(methyl methacrylate (MMA) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA)) with different monomer ratios have been synthesized and used as a drug carrier. Poly(MMA-co-HEMA)/MWCNT nanocomposite was also synthesized using an in-situ microemulsion polymerization technique and used as a 5-FU carrier. Different techniques have characterized these ground-breaking drug delivery systems such as FT-IR, XRD, TEM, TGA, zeta potential, and a particle size analyzer. The effects of monomer feed composition, 5-FU content, and MWCNTs content on morphological and structural properties, in-vitro 5-FU release, and entrapment efficiency (EE%) have been studied. It was noted that the inclusion of MWCNTs in the 5-FU-loaded polymer increases the thermal stability and raises the entrapment efficiency (EE%) to hit 99% at CNTs:5-FU ratio of 2:1. The anticancer drug release from the co-polymeric nanospheres depends on the HEMA ratio, 5-FU/copolymer ratio, CNT/5-FU ratio, and the pH of the medium. The optimized nanocomposite demonstrated higher anti-tumor activity against the cell lines CaCo-2, MCF-7, and HepG-2 and higher cytotoxicity against HepG-2 relative to CaCo-2 and MCF-7.
Highlights
The development of novel drug delivery systems is imported for improving the pharmacological profiles of several classes of therapeutic molecules and overcoming the drawbacks associated with some essential drugs
Cytotoxicity assay The cytotoxicity of 5-FU-loaded MWCNTs/ polymer nanocomposite was measured using the technique of tissue culture
HepG-2, MCF-7, and CaCo-2 cell lines were delivered from the Pharmacology Unit, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Egypt
Summary
The development of novel drug delivery systems is imported for improving the pharmacological profiles of several classes of therapeutic molecules and overcoming the drawbacks associated with some essential drugs. As an anti-cancer drug, 5-FU can achieve effective drug therapy with minimal side effects [1]. This could be achieved by incorporating the drug into a novel carrier which could increase its oral bioavailability and prolong its duration of action. The microemulsion system is the most efficient drug delivery system, which demonstrates high efficiency of drug trapping, release under a sunken environment, biodegradability, and easy removal from the body [2,3]. The microemulsion technique can produce polymer latexes with particle sizes lower than. In situ microemulsion polymerization is considered to be an effective method in drug entrapment during the formation of polymer nanosphere [6,7,8]. MWCNT can be functionalized with polymers to produce MWCNT/polymer nanocomposites with special
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