title: Synthesis of a biodegradable magnetic nanomedicine based on the antitumor molecule tegafur.
abstract: The introduction of magnetic nanocarriers in chemotherapy aims to enhance the anticancer activity of antitumor molecules whereas keeping their toxicity to a very minimum. Magnetite/poly(hexylcyanoacrylate) (core/shell) nanoplatforms were synthesized by an emulsion/polymerization procedure. An exhaustive physicochemical characterization (including infrared spectrometry, electrophoresis, and thermodynamic analysis) suggested that the magnetite nuclei were embedded into a polymeric nanomatrix. The very good magnetic responsiveness of such core/shell nanoparticles was defined by the hysteresis cycle. To improve the intravenous delivery of tegafur to cancer, we investigated its incorporation into the nanoplatform. Compared to surface adsorption, drug entrapment into the polymeric shell yielded higher tegafur loading values, and a much slower release profile. A high frequency alternating magnetic gradient was used to elucidate the heating characteristics of the nanoparticles: a stable maximum temperature of 46 °C was successfully achieved within 32 min. Thus, we put forward that such kind of multifunctional nanomedicine hold very important characteristics (i.e., high drug loading, little burst release, hyperthermia, and magnetically targeted tegafur delivery), suggestive of its potential for combined antitumor therapy against cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Spain. jlarias@ugr.es
authors.forename: José L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Arias
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sáez-Fernández
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: López-Viota
authors.forename: Rafael A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Biedma-Ortiz
authors.forename: Ma Adolfina
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ruiz
mesh_terms: D020341:Absorbable Implants; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D003487:Cyanoacrylates / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D008280:Magnetics; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D011108:Polymers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D005641:Tegafur / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D003487:Cyanoacrylates; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D011108:Polymers; D005641:Tegafur