Magnetic nanoparticles coated with cyclodextrins and citrate for irinotecan delivery

Abstract In the present work, we study the role of different components in the formation of more stable iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs): β-cyclodextrin (BCD), 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP) and citrate anion. MNPs formulations were characterized by FTIR, particles size measurements, zeta potential based on dynamic light scattering principle technique, X-ray powder pattern diffraction, XPS spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The results showed that cyclodextrins and citrate plays a key role in order to obtain a lower size of coated MNPs and proved to be an efficient strategy to obtain a more stable colloidal dispersion, avoiding the nanoparticles oxidation, enhancing the irinotecan incorporation and release. Furthermore, citrate-coated BCD-MNPs showed the same cytotoxicity of the free IRI.