Abstract

Hydrophobic drugs can absorb as guest molecules inside the cavity of cyclodextrins as host sites. So, forming the drug-cyclodextrin complex can exert a profound effect on the physicochemical and biological properties of the drugs. According to these advantages, in this study, we synthesized the tamoxifen (TMX) loaded cyclodextrin (CD)-conjugated MNPs to evaluate simultaneously the cytotoxicity and sustained release as well as hepatoprotective effect of this nanomedicine. The average size of Fe3O4-DPA-PEG-CD-TMX NPs was approximately 31 nm. By energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), it was revealed that Fe3O4 constitutes 14.34 of the composition of modified MNPs. In the other words, nearly 85 of Fe3O4-DPA-PEG-CD NPs are made of dopamine (DPA), polyethylene glycol (PEG) and beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD). The TMX loaded MNPs (with entrapment efficiency of 33 mg TMX per unit CD (mg) and loading efficiency of 87.5) showed sustained liberation of TMX molecules (with 91 release in 120 h). Cytotoxicity assay and apoptosis assay by TUNEL analysis revealed that the engineered Fe3O4-DPA-PEG-CD-TMX NPs were able to significantly inhibit the MCF-7 breast cancer cells. According to effect of CD on TMX sustained release, it was found that CD can decrease the hepatotoxicity induced by TMX nearly 30. Based upon these findings, we suggest the Fe3O4-DPA-PEG-CD-TMX NPs as an effective multifunctional nanomedicine with simultaneous therapeutic and hepatoprotective effects.