Load and release of gambogic acid via dual-target ellipsoidal-Fe₃O₄@SiO₂@mSiO₂-C₁₈@dopamine hydrochloride -graphene quantum dots-folic acid and its inhibition to VX2 tumor cells

Abstract

Ellipsoidal-Fe3O4@SiO2@mSiO2-C18@dopamine hydrochloride-graphene quantum dots-folic acid (ellipsoidal-HMNPs@PDA-GQDs-FA), a dual-functional drug carrier, was stepwise constructed. The α-Fe2O3 ellipsoidal nanoparticles were prepared by a hydrothermal method, and then coated with SiO2 by Stöber method. The resulting core-shell structure, Fe3O4@SiO2@mSiO2-C18 magnetic nano hollow spheres, abbreviated as HMNPs, was finally grafted with graphene quantum dots (GQDs), dopamine hydrochloride (PDA) and folic acid (FA) by amide reaction to finally obtain HMNPs@PDA-GQDs-FA. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), fluorescence spectroscopy and element analysis proved the successful construction of the HMNPs@PDA-GQDs-FA nanoscale carrier-cargo composite. The carrier HMNPs@PDA-GQDs-FA has higher load (51.63%) and release (38.56%) capacity for Gambogic acid (GA). While the cytotoxicity of the carrier-cargo is very low, cytotoxicity test showed that the cell survival rate was above 95%. The cell lethality is greatly improved after loading GA because of the magnetic targeting of HMNPs, the targeting performance of FA to tumor cells, and the pH response to the surrounding environment of tumor cells of PDA. All results showed that HMNPs@PDA-GQDs-FA had good biocompatibility and could be used in the treatment of VX2 tumor cells after loading GA.

Emerging tendencies for the nano-delivery of gambogic acid: a promising approach in oncotherapy

“…Aer loading GA, all results demonstrated that the NPs had acceptable biocompatibility and could be used to treat VX2 tumor cells. 94 Another reported work presented the fabrication of Fe 3 O 4 / hydrophilic mesoporous silica NPs hollow spheres as a drug carrier (HMNPs). Then, polyethyleneimine (PEI) and N-and Sdoped graphene quantum dots (NS-GQDs) were attached to the surface of HMNPs.…”

“…After loading GA, all results demonstrated that the NPs had acceptable biocompatibility and could be used to treat VX2 tumor cells. 94 …”

Recent advances in biomedical applications of carbon and graphene quantum dots: A review

“…Dong et al constructed a drug carrier by coating ellipsoidal Fe 2 O 3 NPs with SiO 2 and decorated the composite with folic acid, dopamine hydrochloride, and GQDs. The drug carrier was reported to have very low cytotoxicity with high loading and release ability, high lethality towards rabbit squamous cell, and cancer line VX 2 tumor cells after conjugation with gambogic acid (Dong et al, 2023). Magaela et al prepared a PDT platform by linking a tin(IV) porphyrin complex to NGQDs decorated with biotin.…”