On chip synthesis of a pH sensitive gefitinib anticancer drug nanocarrier based on chitosan/alginate natural polymers

In this research, using a microfluidic chip, a nanocarrier for the anticancer drug gefitinib was synthesized. Chitosan and alginate natural polymers were utilized for the synthesis of the nanocarrier. The synthesis of the nanocarrier comprises the interaction of secondary amine functional groups of gefitinib molecules with carboxylate functional groups of alginate polymer to form the primary nucleus followed by the formation of the nanocarrier through the self-assembly of chitosan and alginate polymers on a fabricated microfluidic chip. The chip was fabricated by laser engraving poly(methyl methacrylate) polymer sheets. The nanocarrier was characterized by FT-IR, DLS, SEM, and TEM techniques. The synthesized nanocarrier had a size distribution of 5.30 ± 2.60 nm and the encapsulation efficiency percent was 68.4% in the optimum conditions. The loading efficiency was calculated as 50.2 mg g^-1 of nanocarrier. Drug release studies showed that the nanocarrier is sensitive to pH and releases more gefitinib in acidic environments. Cytotoxicity of the synthesized nanocarrier was studied on the A549 non-small cell lung cancer, and the MTT test showed that the synthesized nanocarrier has a lower IC₅₀ value than the free drug. Also, the cytotoxicity studies showed that the materials used for the synthesis of nanocarrier do not show significant cytotoxicity. Compared to the previously reported method, the developed microfluidic-assisted method showed advantages such as a faster synthesis procedure and comparable encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity.