Folic acid conjugated PAMAM-modified mesoporous silica-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for potential cancer therapy.

In this study, novel folate-receptor-targeted polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer functional mesoporous silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles were prepared for drug delivery agents for photodynamic therapy applications. The surface of the magnetic nanoparticles was coated with mesoporous silica (M-MSN). The M-MSN nanoparticles were functionalized with siloxane-cored PAMAM dendrons (generation 1 to 3). The surface of the M-MSN-PAMAM nanocarriers was targeted with folic acid. Indocyanine green (ICG) a near-infrared dye was loaded in the M-MSN-PAMAM nanocarriers and the photodynamic therapy efficiency of the drug-loaded nanocarriers was evaluated on MCF-7 cells. MCF-7 cells were subjected to tissue culture E-Plate that was used to generate dynamic real-time data by measuring electrical impedance across interdigitated microelectrodes on the bottom of the plate. Light source (LEDs) was designed as a system that fit 96 well-plate and cells were irradiated at 785 nm for 20 min. Also, these results were confirmed by WST-1 assay in dark and light conditions for MCF-7 cells. The results showed that in vitro application of ICG loaded M-MSN-PAMAM-FA causes apoptosis in the MCF-7 cell line.