Smart poly(amidoamine) dendron-functionalized magnetic graphene oxide for cancer therapy

Abstract

In this study, a multicomponent nanocomposite using graphene, MnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles, poly(amidoamine) dendrons and folic acid was designed and investigated as a smart magnetic nanocomposite for cancer therapy. The obtained nanocomposite (mGG3F) was characterized by different spectroscopic and microscopic methods. Subsequently, a Pd(II) complex synthesized using Naphcon as a model drug was loaded on the mGG3F nanocomposite with an optimized entrapment efficiency (EE) of 73.9% ± 0.08 and a loading capacity (LC) of 17.7% ± 0.12. In vitro release studies were performed under various pH and temperature conditions. Our results indicate that the synthetic method has advantages such as in situ formation of magnetic nanocomposites, safe solvents and efficient dendron growth. Moreover, we found that the release of the Pd(II) complex from the nanocomposite was pH and temperature dependent. Noticeably, the highest release of the Pd(II) complex (90.1 ± 0.85) was reported at pH = 5.4 at 45 °C. In addition, the release mechanism followed the Korsmeyer–Peppas and first-order kinetic models, according to the model-dependent approach. The in vitro cytotoxicity results indicate that the Pd(II) complex and Pd(II) complex@mGG3F exhibited inhibition against MCF-7 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner and the incorporation of the Pd(II) complex in the carrier did not have a significant effect on its cytotoxicity.