Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Characterization of doxorubicin nanoparticles prepared by ionic gelation

Arwa Khalid¹, Sajid Bashir¹, Muhammad Sohail², Muhammad Imran Amirzada²

¹Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha, Sargodha; ²Department of Pharmacy, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad, Pakistan.

For correspondence:- Muhammad Amirzada Email: imranamirzada@ciit.net.pk

Accepted: 18 November 2018 Published: 26 December 2018

Citation: Khalid A, Bashir S, Sohail M, Amirzada MI. Characterization of doxorubicin nanoparticles prepared by ionic gelation. Trop J Pharm Res 2018; 17(12):2329-2334 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v17i12.2

© 2018 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To prepare and characterise doxorubicin nanopatrticles and study their drug delivery in breast cancer.

Methods: Doxorubicin nanoparticles were prepared by ionic gelation method using sodium alginate as polymer. The formulations were optimized by cross-linking CaCl₂ with sodium alginate at different concentrations. Zeta sizer Nano ZS (UK) was used to determine the mean particle size distribution of the nanoparticle preparations. The shape and external morphologies of the nanoparticles were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Drug release was determined and kinetic release analysis was applied to determine the mechanism of drug release.

Results: Entrapment efficiency and mean particle size values were correlated. Scanning electron micrographs showed that the nanoparticles were spherical with little irregularity but without cracks. Doxorubicin release from the sodium alginate nanoparticles followed Korsmeyer-Peppas model which suggest that drug release from the nanoparticles was by diffusion and dissociation from the natural polymer matrix.

Conclusion: The doxorubicin-loaded nanoparticles showed concentration-dependent increases in entrapment efficiency. The nanoparticles displayed anticancer properties in breast cancer cell line, thus indicating its potential fo chemotherapeutic application.

Keywords: Doxorubicin, Ionic gelation, Nanoparticles, Sodium alginate, Drug release mechanism, Anti-cancer