eXPRESS Polymer Letters (Dec 2015)

Facile and simple preparation of pH-sensitive chitosan-mesoporous silica nanoparticles for future breast cancer treatment

  • W. T. Liu,
  • Y. Yang,
  • P. H. Shen,
  • X. J. Gao,
  • S. Q. He,
  • H. Liu,
  • C. S. Zhu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3144/expresspolymlett.2015.96
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 12
pp. 1068 – 1075

Abstract

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The nanocarrier is linked to the core and shell by hydrogen bond. This drug delivery system represents a smart, biodegradable, and pH-sensitive nanocarrier for breast cancer therapy. These drug nanocarriers were linked by hydrogen bond from –NH2 on chitosan and –OH on mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN). And MSN was prepared by the cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB)-templated method via sol-gel and the loading of ibuprofen (IBU) into the pores of MSN was visualized by coprecipitation which was assessed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and nitrogen adsorption-desorption techniques. The wrapping of chitosan (CS) onto the surface of MSN was demonstrated by FTIR too. When the nanocarriers entered an acidic environment where large quantity cancer cells existed, the chitosan shell swell into loose random coil, exposing the drug and making them easy to be released. The results showed that the IBU could be successfully and effectively loaded into MSN and CS/MSN. The system was pH responsive. Drug release was much higher at pH 6.8 than at 7.4. This drug delivery system will represent a smart and biodegradable pH-responsive nanocarrier for breast cancer.

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