Magnetic nanogels as dual triggered anticancer drug delivery: Toxicity evaluation on isolated rat liver mitochondria.

This study aimed to evaluate bio-safety of magnetic chitosan nanogels as dual triggered drug carrier for doxorubicin through analysis of mitochondrial function. In the present study, chitosan/TPP nanogels containing magnetite nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared according to the ionotropic gelation method as novel pH-sensitive magnetic nanogels. The NPs showed outstanding entrapment efficiency for doxorubicin (76.6%) with a sustained and high extent of drug release in the acidic media (pH=5-7) compared to the neutral media. Various mitochondrial functional parameters including complex II activity, MDA amount, GSH level, membrane potential collapse, swelling, apoptosis and release of cytochrome c were used to investigate the bio-safety of the nanogels. The findings revealed that the extent of mitochondrial dysfunction of doxorubicin were in the order of free doxorubicin>doxorubicin loaded magnetic nanogels=>doxorubicin loaded Nanogels. The results also revealed that the nanogels and the magnetite nanogels seem to possess promising capability as a safe carrier in comparison of the toxic potential effect of free doxorubicin.