Construction of targeted delivery system for curcumin loaded on magnetic α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 heterogeneous nanotubes and its apoptosis mechanism on MCF-7 cell

In this work, the magnetic α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 heterogeneous nanotubes were successfully prepared by solvent hydrothermal-controlled calcination method. The effects of additive concentration, hydrothermal temperature and time on morphology of products were investigated. The α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 nanotubes with a saturation magnetization of 50 emu/g were prepared calcinated at 600 °C for 4 h using 0.8 g of glucose. Their average length, the outer and inner diameters were around 240 nm, 178 nm and 145 nm, respectively. The α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4 heterogeneous nanotubes coated with water-soluble liposome were applied for targeted delivery of curcumin. The release of curcumin inside the hollow structure of the nanocomposites could be triggered and effectively sustained represented a process of slow release. The encapsulation efficiency of curcumin in the α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4-CUR@LIP nanocomposites reached 82.1 ± 0.9%. MTT assays demonstrated that blank carriers had excellent biocompatibility and application of magnetic field significantly elevated the cytotoxicity of α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4-CUR@LIP nanocomposites on MCF-7 cell. Electrochemical experiment and Prussian blue staining indicated that the α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4@LIP nanocomposites could aggregate in cells to promote the internalization of curcumin. Magnetic α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4-CUR@LIP nanocomposites and curcumin enhanced the expression of reactive oxygen species in MCF-7 cells and induced apoptosis by fluorescence detection. Flow cytometry and western blot verified that the α-Fe2O3/Fe3O4@LIP nanocomposites under magnetic field enhanced cells late-apoptosis by adjusting the expression of apoptosis-related proteins.