Ball-milled graphene quantum dots for enhanced anti-cancer drug delivery
Arun Kumar Prabhakar,
M.P. Ajith,
Arundithi Ananthanarayanan,
Parimal Routh,
Babu Cadiam Mohan,
Anbu Mozhi Thamizhchelvan
Affiliations
Arun Kumar Prabhakar
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 70 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637457
M.P. Ajith
School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India
Arundithi Ananthanarayanan
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 70 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637457
Parimal Routh
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 70 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637457
Babu Cadiam Mohan
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore 117585, Singapore
Anbu Mozhi Thamizhchelvan
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore 117585, Singapore; Neuroscience Center of Excellence, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Corresponding author at: Neuroscience Center of Excellence, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 2020 Gravier Street, Lions building, Suite D, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) exhibit excellent opto-electronic properties along with fine-tunable structure and surface properties, which have made them versatile drug carriers. Here GQDs were prepared using carbon black as precursor through oxidation and ball-milling. The prepared GQDs were found to be nano-sized, oxidized, water-soluble and highly fluorescent. The GQDs were found to be extremely biocompatible against the tested cell lines namely: LO2, HeLa, PC-12 and MCF-7 and uptaken by cancer cells in greater amounts with increased concentrations and incubation times. B-Lapachone, an anti-cancer hydrophobic drug, was loaded onto the GQDs through pi-pi bonding and tested for its release profile through dialysis. The drug was released at a significantly higher rate at acidic pH specifically, to cancer cells as compared to the normal cell's relative alkaline pH. The GQD-drug conjugate was found to exhibit enhanced cytotoxicity in cancer cell lines relative to free drug from MTT assay. In whole, sized-down GQDs, having excellent biocompatibility and photostability with enhanced drug delivery properties has been designed and tested.
