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Development of biocompatible fluorescent gelatin nanocarriers for cell imaging and anticancer drug targeting

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Abstract

In recent years, fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) have attracted a great deal of attention in imaging and related biomedical applications due to their excellent photoluminescence properties, low cost, high quantum yield and low cytotoxicity in comparison with semiconductor quantum dots based on metallic elements. In this paper, a new and simple design for development of CDs/gelatin nanoparticles (CDs/GNPs) is described which used as a novel methotrexate (MTX) nanocarrier and MCF-7 cell imaging. The obtained fluorescent nanocarriers were characterized using FTIR, SEM, XRD, DLS, PL, TGA, and zeta-potential analysis. Afterward, the performance of developed NPs was investigated through different in vitro tests such as MTT assay, fluorescence microscopy, and flow cytometry analyses. MTX was successfully loaded into the fluorescent NPs at physiological pH (7.4) by ionic interactions between anionic carboxylate groups of MTX and cationic amino groups on the surface of NPs. MTX releasing ability of the obtained nanocarrier was illustrated through the comparison of in vitro drug release at both simulated tumor tissue and physiological environment. The MTT assay revealed that the MTX-loaded nanocarriers have higher cytotoxicity in MCF-7 breast cancer cells than nanocarriers without MTX. Upon the obtained results, our fluorescent nanocarriers hold great potential as drug delivery carriers for the targeted MTX delivery to the cancer cells and biological fluorescent labeling.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the University of Tabriz and the Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Laboratory of Polymer, Department of Organic and Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Parinaz Nezhad-Mokhtari & Nasser Arsalani

  2. Stem Cell Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Marjan Ghorbani

  3. Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Hamed Hamishehkar

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  1. Parinaz Nezhad-Mokhtari
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  2. Nasser Arsalani
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  4. Hamed Hamishehkar
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Correspondence to Nasser Arsalani or Hamed Hamishehkar.

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Nezhad-Mokhtari, P., Arsalani, N., Ghorbani, M. et al. Development of biocompatible fluorescent gelatin nanocarriers for cell imaging and anticancer drug targeting. J Mater Sci 53, 10679–10691 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2371-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2371-8

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