Iron oxide-pluronic F127 polymer nanocomposites as carriers for a doxorubicin drug delivery system

A multifunctional magnetic drug delivery system made up of an iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) core and a Pluronic F127 shell to carry Doxorubicin (DOX) was developed for neuroblastoma treatment. Several analytical techniques were then conducted to characterize the components of this system. The results showed that the prepared nanoparticles were nearly spherical ultrafine particles of 10¡V30 nm in diameter. Cryo¡VTEM images revealed the formation of a core-shell structure with different polydispersities and particle number densities. The hydrodynamic radius of the nanoparticles increased with increasing polymer concentration. The spectra of IONPs showed Fe2p and O1 s peaks at 700 and 530 eV, respectively, with binding energies associated with magnetite. The XANES spectra of the Fe atom in the different samples demonstrated an absorbance feature (Fe = 7112 eV) of a 1s to 3d transition. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) results proved that the prepared nanocarriers were nontoxic when tested on BE¡V2¡VM17 cells. Moreover, the UV¡Vvis spectra of DOX confirmed the successful conjugation of DOX with F127¡VIONPs. The in vitro drug release profile showed that the drug release from the F127¡VIONPs was pH sensitive, with a faster DOX release rate in acidic conditions than in a neutral environment. ? 2018 Elsevier B.V.