A dual-stimuli-responsive delivery system for poorly water-soluble drug based on iron oxide nanoparticles

This study aimed to prepared a dual-stimuli-responsive delivery system based on iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) and Pluronic F127—Folic acid conjugation (F127-FA) for poorly water-soluble drugs. Oleic acid-coated IONPs were prepared and modified with F127-FA using ultrasonic treatment to form IONPs/F127-FA meanwhile Quercetin (QCT)—a poorly water-soluble drug was encapsulated into the nano-system. The results illustrated the successful preparation of IONPs/F127-FA and its saturation magnetization value was found to be 25.6 emu/g. Moreover, QCT was effectively entrapped into the synthesized IONPs/F127-FA and showed 23.45 ± 7.23% loading capacity and 89.87 ± 2.05% entrapment efficiency. Additionally, the MTT assay revealed that loaded QCT in IONPs/F127-FA showed high inhibition against the human breast cancer cells compared to the free one, which was attributed to the ability to bind to folate receptor α of IONPs/F127-FA. These results suggested that the IONPs/F127-FA system would be a promising dual-stimuli-responsive drug delivery system in cancer treatment.