Preparation and characterization of magnetic nanoparticles and their impact on anticancer drug binding and release processes moderated through a 1st tier dendrimer

Abstract

Magnetic nanoparticle accumulated dendrimers (MADs) have been prepared using a 1 : 1 ratio of MNPs and trimesoyl 1,3,5-trimethyl malonate ester (TTDMM), a 1^st tier dendrimer, in ethanolic medium at 100 °C on refluxing for 24 h. The MADs formed were characterized for their structural, functional and morphological properties using XRD, VSM, FTIR, SEM-EDX, TEM and DLS techniques. The MNPs show superparamagnetic character which moderates the structural ability of TTDMM to bind silibinin (SB) and methotrexate (MTX) anticancer drugs for their potential use in drug delivery systems. In this context, the MADs have shown higher silibinin and methotrexate binding activities compared to those of the dendrimer only, which are confirmed through FTIR, DLS and SEM-EDX. An UV-Vis spectrophotometry study shows 32.65% and 53.03% in vitro release of SB and MTX respectively at 10 h, in PBS with a 10% DMSO (PD) medium at 37 °C. Furthermore, chemosensitivity testing of MAD was carried out on a human lung cancer cell line (A549) using a sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. The test showed that the newly developed drug delivery system for SB and MTX inhibits the growth of A549 human lung cancer cells by 13.9% and 44.3% respectively with 80 μg mL⁻¹ of the total complex. The results of our study have provided new insight for developing MADs as a potential carrier for anticancer drugs with a controlled and sustained release tendency.