PEG-coated folic acid-modified superparamagnetic MnFe_2O_4 nanoparticles for hyperthermia therapy and drug delivery

摘要

Superparamagnetic iron oxide-based nanoparticles (SPIONS) have attracted an enormous attention for their potential use in biomedical applications due to their good biocompatibility and low toxicity. Current study is about doxorubicin-loaded multifunctional MnFe_2O_4 nanoparticles surface-modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG) & folic acid (FA) for multimodal cancer therapy. Infrared spectroscopy and ther-mogravimetric data confirmed this surface modification. Nanoparticles were of moderate colloidal dispersion due to PEG coating. Composite nanoparticles having mean diameter of about 22 nm were of core-shell structure having about 31% (wt) organic shell over the (remaining) magnetic core. MnFe_2O_4 core of about 16 nm was superparamagnetic due to the pseudo-single domain structure. Drug loading & releasing were efficient in the initial 8 h and gradual in later hours. Magnetic heating was studied by exposing the magnetic fluid to high frequency magnetic field. Temperature of the fluid rose to 45 ℃ from 25 ℃ in about 22 min, which is an effective and appropriate temperature for the localized hyperthermia treatment of cancer.