Synthesis of Janus Fe3O4&mSiO2 Nanocarriers for Chemo-Microwave Therapy of Cancer Cells
Abstract
The magnetic Janus ferroferric oxide & mesoporous silica ( Fe3O4&mSiO2 ) with heterogeneous structure was prepared by the hydrothermal method and the sol-gel method and served as the nanocarrier of anticancer drug DOX (i.e., adriamycin, DOX, C27H29NO11) . For the first time, microwave absorption was applied to Janus Fe3O4&mSiO2 nanocarrier for the controlled release of drugs. Research indicated that the performance of the Janus Fe3O4&mSiO2 nanocarriers in microwave-thermal conversion was higher than that of core-shell structural Fe3O4&mSiO2 nanocarriers. At the same time, the cumulative DOX loading rate of Janus Fe3O4&mSiO2 carrier was increased to 36.40 wt% after 24 h. The drug release performance was obvious pH-dependent release behavior. After microwave stimulation at pH = 7.0, the drug release rate was increased significantly from 42.61 to 89.05 wt%. The MTT ( thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide ) assay was used to investigate the activity of the material on HeLa cells and the cell activity test of the nanocarrier under microwave irradiation. The carrier had a good biocompatibility and the Janus Fe3O4&mSiO2-DOX had ideal biological toxicity to HeLa cells. Therefore, this versatile pH and microwave dual triggering carrier will be expected to be further applied to drug delivery systems (DDS).