A Novel Drug Delivery System Based on Nanoparticles of Magnetite Fe 3 O 4 Embedded in an Auto Cross-Linked Chitosan

Abstract

Recently, chitosan (CS) was given much attention as a functional biopolymer for designing various hydrogels for industrial, environmental and biomedical applications, but their biomedical use is limited due to the toxicity of the crosslinker agents. To overcome this inconvenience, we developed an auto cross-linked material based on a chitosan backbone that carries an amino and aldehyde moieties. This new drug delivery system (DDS) was designed by using oxidized chitosan (OCS) that crosslinks chitosan (CS). In the first part, a simple, rapid, low-cost and eco-friendly green method was introduced to synthesize magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4-NPs) successfully. These nanoparticles Fe3O4 have received a great deal of attention in the biomedical field. Especially in a targeted drug delivery system, drug-loaded Fe3O4-NPs can accumulate at the tumor site by the aid of an external magnetic field and increase the effectiveness of drug release to the tumor site. In the second part, we have incorporated the Fe3O4-NPs into chitosan/oxidized chitosan solution because of their unique magnetic properties, outstanding magnetism, biocompatibility, lower toxicity, biodegradability, and other features. Three drugs (5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), Caffeine and Ascorbic acid)) were embedded into the magnetite solution that became quickly a hydrogel. The successful fabrication of the hydrogels and ferrogels was confirmed by (FT-IR), (TGA), (SEM), (VSM) analysis at room temperature. Finally, results showed that our hydrogels and ferrogels may be technologically used as devices for drug delivery in a controllable manner.