Trifunctional fluorescent manganese ferrite nanoparticles for hyperthermia therapy, cell probing and drug delivery

Abstract

Here we have reported a new protocol for drug delivery from hollow sphere manganese ferrite nanoparticles (HMF NPs). The crystalline structure of HMF NPs is obtained from XRD measurement and the morphological and elemental analysis are obtained from FESEM & TEM measurements. Here the HMF NPs are properly designed for delivery of dopamine (DA) as anticancer drug to cancer site. The DA polymerizes to a giant molecule polydopamine (PDA) inside hollow HMF in presence of TRIS buffer at pH (8.5) and a composite, HMF-PDA is formed. Being giant molecule polydopamine remain stable inside the hollow particles, but when these HMF-PDA come in contact of low pH i.e. pH 5 (cancer cells pH), free DA starts to be released. At hyperthermic temperature (45 °C) release enhances compare to physiological temperature (37 °C). The DA release studies are monitored by UV-visible absorption spectroscopy with progress of time at different temperatures and pH. It has been observed that HMF-PDA has fluorescent property whereas DA has no such effects. So, incorporation of PDA inside HMF and tagging of HMF-PDA with cancer cells can also be monitored by fluorescence imaging. Hence, we have successfully synthesized trifunctional HMF-PDA composite which can serve three purposes like cancer cell probing by fluorescence imaging, hyperthermia therapy and drug delivery by magnetic field and pH trigger method.