Lanthanide Doped Magnetic Nano Particles as Anticancer Drug Carriers

Abstract

The thesis reports experimental results on the design synthesis, characterization, and in vitro anticancer activity of a chemotherapeutic drug-loaded magnetic nanoparticles on breast cancer cell lines. The magnetic nanoparticles viz., ytterbium ferrite, holmium ferrite, erbium ferrite, and ytterbium ferrite-, holmium ferrite-, erbium ferrite - incorporated hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (NPs) are synthesized adopting hydrothermal methods. The synthesized NPs are coated with functionalized polymers of PLGA/PEG. The functionalization of the polymers is carried out by chemically tethering and#946;-cyclodextrin (a cyclic oligosaccharide, and#946;-CD) or both and#946;-CD and folic acid. The and#946;-CD is tethered with the idea of enabling host: guest complex formation of the chemotherapeutic drug, camptothecin (CPT). The folate moiety enables the uptake of the nanocarrier by the cancer cells overexpressed with folate receptors (MCF-7 cells). The synthesized NPs are characterized using XRD, TEM, particles size analyser, thermogravimetry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The synthesized polymer derivatives are characterized by FT- IR and NMR spectroscopic techniques. The size of the particles is below 50 nm and the HAp nanocomposites are smaller than 10 nm.The magnetic properties of the nanocarriers are determined employing vibrating sample magnetometry. The nanoparticles show a superparamagnetic behaviour at room temperature and thus present then as suitable for magnetic field-assisted drug delivery. The drug loading content and adsorption percentage of CPT on the nanocarriers are determined, analysing the concentration of the drug, and utilizing reported formulae. The in vitro drug release of the drug from the nanocarriers is followed by measuring the released amount of CPT at planned time intervals employing dialysis membranes and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The release of CPT from the nanocarriers is slow and sustained and occurs well over a period of 45 hours.