Porous nanosilica (PNS) has been attracting much attention in fabrication of nanocarriers for a drug delivery system (DDS). However, the unmodified PNS-based carriers exhibited a significant initial burst release of drug, which may limit their potential clinical application. In this study, PNS was surface conjugated with cyclodextrin (CD) which was functionalized with adamantylamine-polyethylene glycol (APEG) for 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) delivery, in which case CD was used due to its ability to form a stable inclusion complex with 5-FU and APEG. The conjugated PNS (PNSC@APEG) was successfully prepared with spherical shape and diameter around 50 nm, determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In addition, 5-FU was efficiently trapped in PNSC@APEG particles, which were around 63.4%±3.8% and was slowly released up to 3 days in phosphate buffer saline (PBS). Furthermore, the cell proliferation kit I (MTT) assay data showed that PNSC@APEG was a biocompatible nanocarrier. These results indicated that PNSC@APEG nanoparticles have a great potential as novel carriers for anticancer drug delivery.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.