A graphene oxide mediated hybrid nano system for pH stimuli-responsive and in vitro drug delivery targeted for cancer was described in this study. Graphene oxide (GO) functionalized Chitosan (CS) mediated nanocarrier capped with xyloglucan (XG) was fabricated with and without Kappa carrageenan (κ-C) from red seaweed, Kappaphycus alverzii, as an active drug. FTIR, EDAX, XPS, XRD, SEM and HR-TEM studies were carried out for GO-CS-XG nanocarrier loaded with and without active drugs to understand the physicochemical properties. XPS (C1s, N1s and O1s) confirmed the fabrications of XG and functionalization of GO by CS via the binding energies at 284.2 eV, 399.4 eV and 531.3 eV, respectively. The amount of drug loaded in vitro was 0.422 mg/mL. The GO-CS-XG nanocarrier showed a cumulative drug release of 77 % at acidic pH 5.3. In contrast to physiological conditions, the release rate of κ-C from the GO-CS-XG nanocarrier was considerably higher in the acidic condition. Thus, a pH stimuli-responsive anticancer drug release was successfully achieved with the GO-CS-XG-κ-C nanocarrier system for the first time. The drug release mechanism was carried out using various kinetic models that showed a mixed release behavior depending on concentration and diffusion/swelling mechanism. The best-fitting model which supports our release mechanism are zero order, first order and Higuchi models. GO-CS-XG and κ-C loaded nanocarrier biocompatibility were determined by in vitro hemolysis and membrane stabilization studies. MCF-7 and U937 cancer cell lines were used to study the cytotoxicity of the nanocarrier by MTT assay, which indicates excellent cytocompatibility. These findings support the versatile use of a green renewable biocompatible GO-CS-XG nanocarrier as targeted drug delivery and potential anticancer agent for therapeutic purposes.
Biosynthesis of nanoparticles has now become a novel trend in addressing some of the environmental issues by adopting eco-friendly approaches in manoeuvring nanoparticles for various applications. Plants and micro-organisms have been the potential sources of the biological mode of synthesizing nanoparticles as part of their bioremediation process. This principle has been harnessed for synthesizing nanoparticles either extra or intracellularly. In this line of phyto-mediated synthesis, eucalyptus buds have been used for synthesizing gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) under optimized laboratory conditions. The UV-visible spectrum of the Au NPs showed typical surface plasmon resonance at 550 nm (λmax) with a crystalline phase measuring <100 nm in size and monodispersed as revealed from XRD, FESEM, and AFM analyses. The biological role of phytochemical concoction in reducing and stabilizing the Au NPs was clearly identified from FT-IR studies. The antimicrobial effect of the Au NPs against clinically important pathogens viz. Staphylococcus sp., Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus sp. and E. coli determined using the disk diffusion method showed no significant antibacterial effect at all concentrations. Cytotoxicity studies were carried using Vero and HEp-2 cell lines and the 50% inhibition concentration (IC50) was determined to be 1.25 mg and 0.625 mg/mL respectively. Au NPs with potential antimicrobial and anti-proliferative effects could found profound implications in the field of nanomedicine once the toxicity in vivo has been investigated.
Curdlan (CN)-doped montmorillonite/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-N,N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide) [CN/MT/P(NIPA-co-MBA)] smart nanocomposites (NCs) were developed for efficient erlotinib HCl (ERL) delivery to lung cancer cells. The placebo NCs demonstrated excellent biodegradability, pH/thermo-responsive swelling profiles and declined molar mass (M¯c) between the crosslinks with increasing temperature. The XRD, FTIR, DSC, TGA, and SEM analyses revealed the architectural chemistry of these NC scaffolds. The NCs loaded with ERL (F-1-F-3) displayed acceptable diameter (734-1120 nm) and zeta potential (+1.16 to -11.17 mV), outstanding drug entrapping capability (DEE, 78-99%) and sustained biphasic ERL elution patterns (Q8h, 53-91%). The ERL release kinetics of the optimal matrices (F-3) obeyed Higuchi model and their transport occurred through anomalous diffusion. The mucin adsorption behaviour of these matrices followed Freudlich isotherms. As compared to pure ERL, the formulation (F-3) displayed an improved anti-proliferative potential and induced apoptosis more effectively on A549 cells. Thus, the CN-doped smart NCs could be utilized as promising drug-cargoes for lung cancer therapy.