PEG mediated shape-selective synthesis of cubic Fe3O4 nanoparticles for cancer therapeutics

A facile strategy for shape-selective synthesis of PEGylated Fe3O4 cubic magnetic nanoparticles (PCMN) by thermal decomposition of Fe (III) acetylacetonate was developed and explored their applications in drug delivery and hyperthermia. The structural analysis by XRD and TEM showed the formation of spinel-structured Fe3O4 nanoparticles of good crystallinity. The presence of carboxyl PEG group on the surface of PCMN provides colloidal stability, non-toxicity and protein resistance characteristics to them. These negatively charged PCMN have high electrostatic binding affinity for positively charged anticancer drug, doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) and followed pH responsive release behaviour. The in-vitro cytotoxicity studies using normal human fibroblast (NIH 3T3) cells did not show any significant toxicity when cells were treated with PCMN. However, DOX loaded PCMN (PCMN-DOX) exhibit good cellular internalization and substantial toxicity to mouse skin fibrosarcoma (WEHI-164) cells. In addition, the superparamagnetic nature of these particles with optimal magnetization and excellent specific absorption rate (SAR) under external AC magnetic field makes it a valuable system which can be further used as an effective heating agent for hyperthermia treatment of cancer.