Abstract. Liposomes (LIP), nanoparticles (NP), dendrimers (DEN), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), represent eminent classes of drug delivery devices. A study was carried out herewith by employing docetaxel (DTX) as model drug to assess their comparative drug delivery potentials. Under optimized conditions, highest entrapment of DTX was observed in CNT-based formulation (DTX-CNTs, 74.70± 4.9%) followed by nanoparticles (DTX-NP, 62.34±1.5%), liposome (49.2±1.51%), and dendrimers (28.26± 1.74%). All the formulations were found to be of nanometric size. In vitro release studies were carried out in PBS (pH 7.0 and 4.0), wherein all the formulations showed biphasic release pattern. Cytotoxicity assay in human cervical cancer SiHa cells inferred lowest IC 50 value of 1,235.09±41.93 nM with DTX-CNTs, followed by DTX-DEN, DTX-LIP, DTX-NP with IC 50 values of 1,571.22±151.27, 1,653.98±72.89, 1,922.75±75.15 nM, respectively. Plain DTX showed higher hemolytic toxicity of 22.48±0.94%, however loading of DTX inside nanocarriers drastically reduced its hemolytic toxicity (DTX-DEN, 17.22±0.48%; DTX-LIP, 4.13±0.19%; DTX-NP, 6.43±0.44%; DTX-CNTs, 14.87±1.69%).
