Iron oxide nanoparticle core-shell magnetic microspheres: Applications toward targeted drug delivery

This study describes a sensitive reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive lecithin (LEC) incorporated iron oxide nanoparticle (Fe₃O₄ NP) system with potent anti-inflammatory properties and even more so when the antioxidant drug curcumin (CUR) is encapsulated in the PLGA hybrid magnetic microsphere system (Fe₃O₄@LEC-CUR-PLGA-MMS). The delivery system is responsive to ROS including an H₂O₂ environment to release the payload (CUR) drug. Greater cytotoxicity properties were observed in the presence of Fe₃O₄@LEC-CUR-PLGA-MMS against A549 and HeLa S3 cells with IC₅₀ values after 24 h of 10 and 12 μg/mL and 10 and 20 μg/mL, respectively. The present Fe₃O₄@LEC-CUR-PLGA-MMS system demonstrated much better in vitro cytotoxicity, cellular morphological changes and moreover an ability to limit colony formation for A549 and HeLa S3 cancer cell lines than non-cancerous cells, and thus, should be further studied for a wide range of medical applications.