Synthesis and characterization of doxorubicin coated with magnetic copolymer polycaprolactone-polyethylene glycol for use in the cancer treatment

In recent years, the development of nanoparticles has received much attention in the controlled drug release and biomedicine fields. This research aims to develop new methods for the physical modification of Fe3O4 superparamagnetic nanoparticles with polymers through physical retention. In this study, first, the degradable polycaprolactone-ethylene glycol copolymer and magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized. The anticancer drug doxorubicin was prepared using a dual-emulsion (w/o/w) copolymer containing magnetic iron nanoparticles. FT-IR, NMR, XRD, VSM, and, SEM analyzes were used to characterize copolymers and magnetic nanoparticles with drug-containing copolymer coating. The results showed that nanoparticles had superparamagnetic properties and their particle size was between 70-150 nm. The drug encapsulation efficiency was about 96%. The influence of pH and temperature on the drug release curve was investigated. The drug release was 31% and 26% after 144 hours in pH = 5.8 and 7.4 respectively. Since the extracellular fluid of the tumor is acidic, the rate of drug release in these media will be better than in other cells. The kinetics of the drug release was also studied based on zero-order, first-order, Higuchi and Korsmeyer-Peppas models. From the kinetic models, Higuchi was found to be the best model based on the correlation coefficient. The performance of the drug-loaded magnetic-copolymer nanoparticles with other similar studies was compared. The results revealed that the magnetic PCL-PEG copolymer with pH-sensitive properties can be used as an effective carrier for anticancer drugs delivery.