Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles@lecithin/poly (l-lactic acid) microspheres for targeted drug release in cancer therapy.

The use of targeted chemotherapy is a promising solution to mitigate the side effects and dosage of drugs. This research focuses on the development of magnetic microspheres (MMS) based drug carriers for targeted chemotherapy, formulated with iron oxide nanoparticles (FeO NPs) and poly (l-lactic acid) (PLA) loaded with the antibiotic drug Ciprofloxacin (CIF). In this study, FeO NPs were synthesized using pomegranate peel extract as a natural reducing and stabilizing agent. The double emulsification method (W/O/W) was employed to produce FeO@LEC-CIF-PLA-MMS, which were characterized using various spectral and microscopic techniques. The drug encapsulation efficiency for FeO@LEC-CIF-PLA-MMS was found to be 80.7 %. The in vitro drug release of CIF from FeO@LEC-CIF-PLA-MMS induced by HO and GSH- stimuli was found to be 87.55 % and 82.32 %, respectively in acidic pH 4.5. Notably, the magnetically triggered drug release behaviour of FeO@LEC-CIF-PLA-MMS (93.56 %) was assessed in acidic pH environment upon exposure to low-frequency alternating magnetic field (LF-AMF). FeO@LEC-CIF-PLA-MMS demonstrated significantly enhanced in vitro cytotoxicity (IC = 0.8 ± 0.03 μg/mL) against the HeLa-S3 cancer cell lines. Nevertheless, these research findings highlight the potential of FeO@LEC-CIF-PLA-MMS for further development as a chemotherapeutic agent and hold promise for the future of targeted cancer treatment.