Abstract
In this investigation, Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were prepared via a chemical coprecipitation reaction, and the surface of Fe3O4 MNPs was coated with silica by a sol-gel process. The surface of Fe3O4@SiO2 MNPs was modified by an antioxidant agent, trans-ferulic acid, to achieve water-soluble MNPs for biological applications. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) showed that the MNPs were successfully coated with SiO2 and ferulic acid (FA) ligand. The morphology of γ-Fe2O3@SiO2-FA MNPs was found to be spherical in images of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and showed a uniform size distribution with an average diameter of 21 nm. The in vitro cytotoxic activity of γ-Fe2O3@SiO2-FA MNPs and FA were investigated against the human cancer cells (MCF-7, PC-3, U-87 MG, A-2780, and A-549) by MTT colorimetric assay. The cytotoxic effect of MNPs on all cancer cell lines was several times of magnitude higher compared to free FA except for A-549 cell lines. Furthermore, in vitro DNA binding studies were investigated by UV–vis and circular dichroism spectroscopies.
Acknowledgment
We acknowledge the financial support from Razi University Research Center.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.