Synthesis of Drug Carriers Composed of Gelatin and Iron Oxide Nanoparticles with Thermally Responsive Release Capability

Abstract

Many kinds of nanocarriers are attracting attention for DDS. Nanocarriers are required to have functions of loading, delivering and controlled release of drug. For this purpose, we propose and synthesize a nanocarrier by using magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and gelatin. Iron oxide is chosen as a magnetic material because of its properties such as magnetically guided accumulation and heat generation under alternating magnetic fields as well as biodegradability. Gelatin shows sol-gel transition, which can support drugs in network structure of gel and release drugs in sol phase. To synthesize the carrier, iron oxide nanoparticles (IOPs) prepared by co-precipitation and modified with citric acid work as a cross-linker to form gelatin particles. The role of citric acid is not only improving the dispersibility of IOPs but also introducing functional groups to combine IOPs with gelatin. Concentrations of IOPs and gelatin in the solution are important parameters to control the morphology of the composite particles, leading to the formation of the particles of 50～200 nm in size under the optimum conditions. Doxorubicin as an anti-cancer drug is incorporated in the composite particles and is released by a thermal stimulation.