Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Iranian Researchers Make Smart Nanocarriers to Reduce Side Effects of Anticancer Drugs

Home > Press > Iranian Researchers Make Smart Nanocarriers to Reduce Side Effects of Anticancer Drugs

Abstract:
Iranian researchers from Tarbiat Modarres University succeeded in the production of a smart nanocarrier that can be used in medical industries, pharmaceutics, and specially in cancer treatment.

Iranian Researchers Make Smart Nanocarriers to Reduce Side Effects of Anticancer Drugs

Tehran, Iran | Posted on June 11th, 2014

The nanocarrier has polymeric structure and reduces the amount of the consumed drug as well as its side effects.

Methotrexate (MTX) is one of the most common and effective anticancer drugs in chemotherapy, which is widely used in the treatment of various types of aggressive tumors such as leukemia, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, and other cancers. Conductive polymers are among the most important intelligent materials that in addition to compatibility, they provide the possibility of controlled release of the drugs by using an external electrochemical agent. However, there are some problems in the loading of anticancer drugs in these polymers such as low efficiency or the low stability of the polymer.

In this research, methotrexate has been loaded in the structure of nanostructured polypyrrole as the conductive intelligent polymer through a simple method, and the parameters effective on the release of the drug were studied. Electrical polymerization of polypyrrole in the presence of MTX solely results in a very low quality and instable polymer with very low amount of loaded drug. However, the problem is solved in the presence of cationic surfactant of cetylpyridinium (CP), and the amount of loaded drug increases significantly. On the other hand, the size and structure of the nanocarrier can be controlled by adjusting the temperature and pH value of the media, and the time and amount of the imposed potential.

The results showed that the correlation of the performance kinetics of the nanocarrier is in good agreement with Avrami Equation, and the amount of drug release can be controlled by changing the temperature and potential.

Results of the research have been published in Electrochimica Acta, vol. 130, issue 1, April 2014, pp. 488-496.

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