PEGylation of graphene/iron oxide nanocomposite: assessment of release of doxorubicin, magnetically targeted drug delivery and photothermal therapy

Abstract

Scientists have recommended to investigate graphene and graphene base compounds for their potential uses in a variety of fields, such as biomedicine and drug release. A PEGylated and functionalized magnetic graphene oxide (MG–NH₂–PEG) complex was used herein as a nanocarrier of Doxorubicin, a cancer chemotherapy drug. First, graphene oxide was synthesized by modified Hummer’s method and then functionalized with amine groups (G–NH₂). Afterwards, solvothermal of Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles on G–NH₂ to prepare magnetic graphene oxide (MGO) modified by MG–NH₂ via covalent bindings for the synthesis of MG–NH₂–PEG. Doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded onto MG–NH₂–PEG at pH 7 by the use of π–π interactions, yielding a highly significant value of DOX’s loading efficiency along with its loading content. In vitro cytotoxicity tests on MCF-7 cells line were carried out for MG–NH₂–PEG: DOX according to the drug loading and release characteristics. The results of standard MTT assay for the toxicity determination of both synthetic nanocomposites and the drug revealed over 85% of surviving cells after 48 h, with a cellular uptake of > 80%, suggesting a satisfactory outcome on the non-toxicity of the nanocomposite. It can, therefore, be concluded that MG–NH₂–PEG showed to be an effective drug carrier in cancer chemotherapy drug delivery through loading the above drugs of low medicinal properties with individual dependency on pH levels. Furthermore, MG–NH₂–PEG represent strong optical absorbance from the visible to the near-infrared (NIR) region, and can be utilized for localized photothermal ablation of cancer cells guided by the magnetic field.