Synthesis characterization and biological evaluation of alginate nanoparticle for the targeted delivery of curcumin

Cancer continues to be a serious disaster to mankind. Chemotherapy is an efficient and effective treatment against cancer. Lack of selectivity is the main challenge faced by chemotherapy. In present study we used folic acid (FA) as a targeting ligand, which selectively targets the cancer cell lines with over expressed folate receptors (FR). We grafted polyethylene glycol (PEG) to polyethylene imine (PEI) to form PEG-b-PEI (mPPS), which is then coupled with FA to form FA- PEG-b-PEI (PPF) which is then assembled with curcumin (CUR) loaded alginate nanoparticle (AlgNP). The carrier is well characterized using FTIR, XRD, SEM and DLS. At optimum conditions DLE of 68.3% and DEE of 92.4% have been achieved and a drug release percentage higher than 80% is also obtained. The cell viability of CUR loaded carrier is found to be less than 40%. In vitro cytotoxicity studies and fluorescence images of HeLa and H9c2 cell lines confirm the selective destruction of tumor cell lines.