Toxicological Evaluation of Luminescent Silica Nanoparticles as New Drug Nanocarriers in Different Cancer Cell Lines

Abstract

Luminescent mesoporous silica nanoparticles, CdTeQDs@MNs@PEG1, SiQDs@Isoc@MNs and SiQDs@Isoc@MNs@PEG2, were successfully synthetized and characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, N2 nitrogen isotherms, 1H NMR, IR, absorption, and emission spectroscopy. Cytotoxic evaluation of these nanoparticles was performed in relevant in vitro cell models, such as human hepatoma HepG2, human brain endothelial (hCMEC/D3), and human epithelial colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2) cell lines. None of the tested nanoparticles showed significant cytotoxicity in any of the three performed assays (MTT/NR/ LDH) compared with the respective solvent and/or coating controls, excepting for CdTeQDs@MNs@PEG1 nanoparticles, where significant toxicity was noticed in hCMEC/D3 cells. The results presented reveal that SiQDs-based mesoporous silica nanoparticles are promising nanoplatforms for cancer treatment, with a pH-responsive drug release profile and the ability to load 80% of doxorubicin.

Gold@mesoporous silica nanocarriers for the effective delivery of antibiotics and by-passing of β-lactam resistance

“…MNs nanoparticles had their HD and water stability determined by DLS assays (HD = 443 ± 19 nm, PDI = 0.45 ± 0.09 and ζ = -21 ± 0.2 mV), showing similar results to those already reported for the same system, in the same conditions [37]. The successful production of silica nanoparticles was validated by their FTIR and XRD spectra.…”

“…The final gold concentration in AuNPs purified dispersions was obtained by ICP, with [Au] = 8.24 × 10 −4 M corresponding to an average AuNPs concentration of 9.2 × 10 11 particles/mL. Gold mesoporous nanoparticles (Au@MNs) were obtained through the growth of a silica shell by a wellestablished and reported Stöber method for the synthesis of MCM-41 [18,36,37]. Here, TEOS was used as silica source, CTAB as a cationic templating surfactant, ethylene glycol as stabiliser and NaOH as reducing and morphological agent.…”

Luminescent silicon-based nanocarrier for drug delivery in colorectal cancer cells

“…Based on these previous studies, in this work, SiQDs were performed in a one-step synthesis in water using (3aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane (APTMS) and sodium ascorbate (SA) [18]. Despite all reported synthetic methods of silicon quantum dots in water [15][16][17][18][19], nanocarriers resulting from the combination of silicon quantum dots and silica mesoporous nanoparticles are yet scarce [20,21]. Additionally, from all nanocarriers developed to date that are under the preclinical stage for CRC [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], none combines luminescent quantum dots (silicon quantum dots) and mesoporous silica nanoparticles.…”

“…To surmise, the delivery of anti-cancer drugs in fully non-toxic materials (non-use of toxic luminescent QDs) comprising SiQDs and mesoporous matrixes, has, according to literature [36,37], never been reported. Thus, the novelty of the work stands, despite a recent report by the authors on the sole toxicity of mesoporous SiQD-based systems [21], on the foremost development of similar nanosystems in the controlled delivery of DOX in specific cancer colorectal cell lines, for future applications as building blocks in targeted nanotherapies.…”

New Biocompatible Mesoporous Silica/Polysaccharide Hybrid Materials as Possible Drug Delivery Systems

“…Vallet-Regi proposed for the first time mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) as controlled delivery systems [4]. Since then it was found that this type of material may be one of the greatest carrier materials for hydrophobic or hydrophilic drugs [5] due to their controlled pore size, large surface area, pore volume and, moreover, it has been demonstrated that it has very high biocompatibility both in vitro and in vivo [6]. Unlike other carriers, MSN exhibit a higher resistance to temperature and pH variation, mechanical stress and hydrolysis-induced degradations thus making a stable and rigid framework.…”