Chondroitin sulfate functionalized mesostructured silica nanoparticles as biocompatible carriers for drug delivery

Abstract

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have garnered a great deal of attention as potential carriers for therapeutic payloads. Here, we report a pH-responsive drug-carrier based on chondroitin sulfate functionalized mesostructured silica nanoparticles (NMChS-MSNs) ie, the amidation between NMChS macromer and amino group functionalized MSNs. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized using dynamic light scattering, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The resultant NMChS-MSNs were uniform spherical nanoparticles with a mean diameter of approximately 74 nm. Due to the covalent graft of hydrophilic and pH responsive NMChS, the NMChS-MSNs could be well dispersed in aqueous solution, which is favorable to being utilized as drug carriers to construct a pH-responsive controlled drug delivery system. Doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX), a well-known anticancer drug, could be effectively loaded into the channels of NMChS-MSNs through electrostatic interactions between drug and matrix. The drug release rate of DOX@NMChS-MSNs was pH dependent and increased with the decrease of pH. The in vitro cytotoxicity test indicated that NMChS-MSNs were highly biocompatible and suitable to use as drug carriers. Our results imply that chondroitin sulfate functionalized nanoparticles are promising platforms to construct the pH-responsive controlled drug delivery systems for cancer therapy.

Keywords:

• mesoporous silica nanoparticle
• pH sensitive
• chondroitin sulfate
• drug delivery

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, the National Natural Scientific Foundations of China (21073156), the University Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (10KJB150020 and 12KJB350006), and the Key Laboratory of Environmental Materials and Environmental Engineering of Jiangsu Province (017375003579).

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Supplementary figures

Scheme S1 Synthesis pathway of macromer NMChS.

Abbreviation: NMChS, O-maleyl chondroitin sulfate.

Figure S1 FT-IR spectra of ChS, maleic anhydride and macromer NMChS. (A) rare ChS; (B) maleic anhydride and (C) macromer NMChS.

Abbreviations: FT-IR, fourier transform infrared; NMChS, O-maleyl chondrotin sulfate; ChS, chondrotin sulfate.

Figure S2 ¹H NMR spectra of the rare ChS (A) and synthesized NMChS (B).

Abbreviations: ¹HNMR, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; NMChS, O-maleyl chondrotin sulfate; ChS, chondrotin sulfate.

Figure S3 FESEM image of MSNs. (B) is higher magnification than (A).

Abbreviations: FESEM, field emission scanning electron microscopy; MSN, mesoporous silica nanoparticles.