Construction and characterization of a theranostic system based on graphene/manganese chelate

Construction of hybrid systems that combine the cancer treatment and diagnosis agents on a single platform, known as theranostic systems, have received great attentions in the field of nanobiomedicine. Here, construction and characterization of a new multifunctional hybrid theranostic system based on RGO, PDA, BSA, DTPA-Mn(II), and MTX constituents, is presented. Accordingly, GO is partially reduced and simultaneously functionalized by dopamine, leading to reduced graphene oxide/polydopamine, RGO-PDA system; and then, the bovine serum albumin protein (BSA) is grafted onto this system. The obtained system, RGO-PDA-BSA, is further decorated with diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid-Mn(II) as diagnostic system and methotrexate as anticancer drug. Physicochemical characteristics of the RGO-PDA-BSA-DTPA-Mn(II)/MTX system are studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and electrochemical methods. The capturing ability of the prepared system for the cancer cells is evaluated through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and by using the 4T1 cancer cells in comparison with L929 normal cells. The EIS results indicate that a degree of selectivity as 6.23 for GC-RGO-PDA-BSA-DTPA-Mn(II)/MTX electrode system toward 4T1 cells, which is larger than that obtained for this system toward the L929 cells. Similar analysis performed using the GC-RGO-PDA-DTPA-Mn(II)/MTX system (having no BSA) indicate that the selectivity degree of the system is increased only by a factor of 1.6, implying that presence of BSA has increased the selectivity of the system for 4T1 cells by a factor of four. This behavior supports the crucial role of BSA in this process for 4T1 cells. Finally, the drug release study of RGO-PDA-BSA-DTPA-Mn(II)/MTX system is performed successfully at pH 7.4.