Construction of a Novel Magnetic Targeting Anti-Tumor Drug Delivery System: Cytosine Arabinoside-Loaded Bacterial Magnetosome

• Main Authors: Wenguo Wu, Aizheng Chen, Shenjian Wu, Maobin Xie, Shibin Wang, Qiongjia Deng, Yuangang Liu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2013-09-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: cytosine arabinoside; magnetosome; genipin; drug release
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/6/9/3755
• ISSN: 1996-1944

To ease the side effects triggered by cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) for acute leukemia treatment, a novel magnetic targeting anti-tumor drug delivery system was constructed through bacterial magnetosomes (BMs) from Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1 combined with Ara-C by crosslinking of genipin (GP). The results showed that Ara-C could be bonded onto the membrane surface of BMs effectively through chemical crosslinking induced by dual hand reagents GP. The average diameters of BMs and Ara-C-coupled BMs (ABMs) were 42.0 ± 8.6 and 72.7 ± 6.0 nm respectively, and the zeta potentials (−38.1 ± 9.1) revealed that these systems were stable, confirming the stability of the system. The optimal encapsulation efficiency and drug loading were 89.05% ± 2.33% and 47.05% ± 0.64% respectively when crosslinking reaction lasted for 72 h. The system also presented long-term stability and release behaviors without initial burst release (Ara-C could be released 80% within three months). Our results indicate that BMs have great potential in biomedical and clinical fields as a novel anti-tumor drug carrier.