Electrochemical Triggered Dissolution of Hydroxyapatite/Doxorubicin Nanocarriers

The controlled release of drugs by an external stimulus is of pivotal interest and importance as a means of increasing administration efficacy. Accordingly, many responsive systems have been developed based on primarily pH, temperature and light changes. Here, a novel electrochemical triggered release of Doxorubicin (Dox) loaded hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanoparticles (NPs) system is presented. Dox is loaded onto HAp NPs by producing a stable dispersion in DMSO. The Dox-HAp NPs are electrophoretically deposited on a stainless steel (S.S) surface. The adsorbed Dox-HAp NPs are released either by applying a moderate electrochemical potential pulse or upon scanning the potential. Two mechanisms were proposed. The first by which the positive potential induces the desorption of the Dox-HAp NPs. Alternatively, the positive potential could drive the oxidation of water and generation of protons, which cause the dissolution of the Dox-HAp NPs. In-situ characterization techniques, such as, atomic force microscopy (AFM) a...