Cytotoxicity

Engineering

Drug carrier

Surgery

Nanoparticle

Nanotechnology

Organic chemistry

Chemistry

Materials science

In vitro

Combinatorial chemistry

Chemotherapy

Heparin

Protamine sulfate

Chitosan

Drug delivery

Oxide

Drug

Protamine

Doxorubicin

Doxorubicin Hydrochloride

Graphene

Chemical engineering

Biochemistry

Medicine

Adhesion

Nanocomposite

Pharmacology

Applied Surface Science

In order to improve the efficiency of anticancer drug delivery, a graphene oxide (GO) based drug delivery system modificated by natural peptide protamine sulfate (PRM) and sodium alginate (SA) was established via electrostatic attraction at each step of adsorption based on layer-by-layer self-assembly. The nanocomposites were then loaded with anticancer drug doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) to estimate the feasibility as drug carriers. The nanocomposites loaded with DOX revealed a remarkable pH-sensitive drug release property. The modification with protamine sulfate and sodium alginate could not only impart the nanocomposites an improved dispersibility and stability under physiological pH, but also suppress the protein adhesion. Due to the high water dispersibility and the small particle size, GO-PRM/SA nanocomposites were able to be uptaken by MCF-7 cells. It was found that GO-PRM/SA nanocomposites exhibited no obvious cytotoxicity towards MCF-7 cells, while GO-PRM/SA-DOX exhibited better cytotoxicity than GO-DOX. Therefore, the GO-PRM/SA nanocomposites were feasible as drug delivery vehicles.

Surface modification of graphene oxide nanosheets by protamine sulfate/sodium alginate for anti-cancer drug delivery application