Document Type : Original Paper

Authors

• ehsan naderi ¹
• Mahmoud Naseri ²
• Heidar Taimouri Rad ³
• Reza Zolfaghari Emameh ⁴
• Gholamreza Farnoosh ³
• Ramezan Ali Taheri ¹

¹ Nanobiotechnology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

² Department of Physics, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran.

³ Biotechnology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

⁴ Department of Energy and Environmental Biotechnology, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB), 14965/161, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract

The present study aimed to prepare Fe₃O₄ nanocarriers (NCs) by a thermal treatment method. After the Fe₃O₄ (Fe) NCs was prepared, zinc oxide and silica nanoparticles were added to it as Photosensitizer. The structure, morphology, and magnetic properties of Fe₃O₄@ZnO (Fe@Zn) and Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ (Fe@Si) NCs were determined by XRD, FT-IR, FESEM, and VSM. Then, the loading and drug release of Fe, Fe@Zn, and Fe@Si NCs were investigated. The curcumin (CUR) release of Fe@Zn+CUR and Fe@Si+CUR increased from 30% and 26% at pH 7.4 to 53% and 57% at pH 5.5, respectively. The cytotoxicity of Fe@Zn and Fe@Si NCs were determined by MTT assay, hemolysis test, acute toxicity, and lethal dose test. The results showed that Fe@Zn and Fe@Si were appropriate for Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) and in the next step, the effect of Fe@Zn, Fe@Si, Fe@Zn+CUR, and Fe@Si+CUR NCs on MCF-7 cells under  visible light were studied. Finally, the ranking of the destruction of cancerous cells of MCF-7 using NCs under  visible light was: Fe@Zn+CUR>Fe@Zn>Fe@Si+CUR>Fe@Si.

Keywords

• Photosensitizer
• Drug Delivery
• Curcumin
• Cytotoxicity
• Magnetic properties