Formulation of Silica-Chitosan Hybrid Modified by BSA-Folate as a Drug Nanocarrier

A novel pH-responsive drug delivery platform based on silica-chitosan hybrid containing quercetin drug (67 % entrapment efficiency) modified by folic acid-bovine serum albumin (BSA-FA) was developed in current study. The chemical properties, structure, specific surface area, and morphology of developed nanocarrier were evaluated by FTIR, XRD, BET, and SEM analyses. This nanocarrier was investigated in terms of pH-responsive release behavior in phosphate buffer solutions with pH of 5.6, and 7.4, near to acidic condition of cancer tissue and the normal condition of the body. The in-vitro release indicated an almost rapid release at the first 12 h, which then followed by a slower and gradual release for both media, so that 15 % and 26 of entrapped quercetin were released from nanocarrier at firs 12 h, respectively. In addition, a further cumulative drug release (54 % after 96 h) was observed in acidic medium compared to natural medium (36 % after 96 h), indicating the pH-sensitive behavior of hybrid nanocarrier, which is mainly related to greater swelling of the BSA-FA modification layer in response to changes in the pH of solution. These findings support the pH-responsive and smart function of designed hybrid nanocarrier against acidic medium of cancerous cells.