Chondroitin sulfate-capped super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as potential carriers of doxorubicin hydrochloride

Chondroitin-4-sulfate (CS), a glycosaminoglycan, was used to prepare CS-capped super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, which were further employed for loading a water-soluble chemotherapeutic agent (doxorubicin hydrochloride, DOX). CS-capped SPIONs have potential biomedical application in cancer targeting. The optimized formulation had a hydrodynamic size of 91.2±0.8nm (PDI; 0.228±0.004) and zeta potential of -49.1±1.66mV. DOX was loaded onto the formulation up to 2% (w/w) by physical interaction with CS. TEM showed nano-sized particles having a core-shell structure. XRD confirmed crystal phase of iron oxide. FT-IR conceived the interaction of iron oxide with CS as bidentate chelation and also confirmed DOX loading. Vibration sample magnetometry confirmed super-paramagnetic nature of nanoparticles, with saturation magnetization of 0.238emug(-1). In vitro release profile at pH 7.4 showed that 96.67% of DOX was released within 24h (first order kinetics). MTT assay in MCF7 cells showed significantly higher (p<0.0001) cytotoxicity for DOX in SPIONs than DOX solution (IC50 values 6.294±0.4169 and 11.316±0.1102μgmL(-1), respectively).