Superparamagnetic Iron-Oxide Nanoparticles Synthesized via Green Chemistry for the Potential Treatment of Breast Cancer

Abstract

In the emerging field of nanomedicine, nanoparticles have been widely considered as drug carriers and are now used in various clinically approved products. Therefore, in this study, we synthesized superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) via green chemistry, and the SPIONs were further coated with tamoxifen-conjugated bovine serum albumin (BSA-SPIONs-TMX). The BSA-SPIONs-TMX were within the nanometric hydrodynamic size (117 ± 4 nm), with a small poly dispersity index (0.28 ± 0.02) and zeta potential of -30.2 ± 0.09 mV. FTIR, DSC, X-RD, and elemental analysis confirmed that BSA-SPIONs-TMX were successfully prepared. The saturation magnetization (M_s) of BSA-SPIONs-TMX was found to be ~8.31 emu/g, indicating that BSA-SPIONs-TMX possess superparamagnetic properties for theragnostic applications. In addition, BSA-SPIONs-TMX were efficiently internalized into breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and T47D) and were effective in reducing cell proliferation of breast cancer cells, with IC₅₀ values of 4.97 ± 0.42 μM and 6.29 ± 0.21 μM in MCF-7 and T47D cells, respectively. Furthermore, an acute toxicity study on rats confirmed that these BSA-SPIONs-TMX are safe for use in drug delivery systems. In conclusion, green synthesized superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles have the potential to be used as drug delivery carriers and may also have diagnostic applications.

Keywords: SPIONs; breast cancer; green chemistry; serum albumin; superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles; tamoxifen.

Figure 1

Characterizations of green synthesized SPIONs. (A) Green synthesized SPIONS using (-) EGCG showed magnetic properties in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field. (B) UV-visible absorption spectra of SPIONs in the UV-visible range (200–600 nm) showed maximum absorption (characteristic) peaks at 210, 236, and 278.5 nm. (C) Particle size distribution (hydrodynamic diameter) profile of SPIONs. (D) SEM image of SPIONs (scale bar 200 nm).

Figure 2

Characterizations of green synthesized TMX-conjugated BSA-coated SPIONs. (A) Particle size (hydrodynamic diameter) distribution profile of BSA-SPIONs-TMX. (B) Zeta potential distribution profile of BSA-SPIONs-TMX. (C) TEM image of BSA-SPIONs-TMX (scale bar 100 nm). (D) SEM image of BSA-SPIONs-TMX (scale bar 200 nm). (E) EDX analysis of BSA-SPIONs-TMX using SEM-EDX.

Figure 3

Field dependence of magnetization green synthesized SPIONs, BSA-SPIONs, and BSA-SPIONs-TMX measured in the applied magnetic field (Oe) at room temperature.

Figure 4

FTIR spectra of (A) SPIONs (10 mg), (B) TMX (10 mg), (C) BSA (10 mg), and (D) BSA-SPIONs-TMX (10 mg).

Figure 5

DSC thermogram of TMX, BSA, and BSA-SPIONs-TMX.

Figure 6

X-ray diffractogram of SPIONs.

Figure 7

Percentage cumulative TMX released from BSA-SPIONs-TMX within 24 h. Data represent mean ± SD (n = 3).

Figure 8

Cellular uptake profiles of Rho-B and BSA-SPIONs-Rho-B from different cells: (A) MCF-7 cells, and (B) T47D cells, showing side scatter v/s forward scatter, fluorescence v/s side scatter, forward scatter v/s fluorescence, and fluorescence histogram (log).

Figure 8

Cellular uptake profiles of Rho-B and BSA-SPIONs-Rho-B from different cells: (A) MCF-7 cells, and (B) T47D cells, showing side scatter v/s forward scatter, fluorescence v/s side scatter, forward scatter v/s fluorescence, and fluorescence histogram (log).

Figure 9

Percentage cell viability profile of TMX and BSA-SPIONs-TMX against (A) MCF-7 cell lines and (B) T47D cell lines (mean ± SD, n = 3); Note: (* indicates p < 0.05 compared with TMX and ** indicates p < 0.01) compared with BSA-SPIONs-TMX.

Figure 10

Representative photomicrographs of histopathology (40×) of a cross-section of the heart, liver, spleen, and kidney from the control, BSA-SPIONs-, TMX-, and BSA-SPION-TMX-treated groups.