In vitro drug release characteristic and cytotoxic activity of silibinin-loaded single walled carbon nanotubes functionalized with biocompatible polymers

In this paper, we demonstrate the preparation of silibinin-loaded carbon nanotubes (SWSB) with surface coating agents via non-covalent approach as an effective drug delivery system. The resulting surface-coated SWSB nanocomposites are extensively characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopies, ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectrometry and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The FTIR and Raman studies show that an additional layer is formed by these coating agents in the prepared nanocomposites during the coating treatment and these results are confirmed by FESEM. Drug loading and release profiles of the coated SWSB nanocomposites in phosphate buffered saline solution at pH 7.4 is evaluated by UV–Vis spectrometry. The in vitro results indicate that the surface-modified nanocomposites, with SB loading of 45 wt%, altered the initial burst and thus, resulted in a more prolonged and sustained release of SB. In addition, these nanocomposites exhibit a pseudo-second-order release kinetic which was driven by the ion exchange between the ionized SWSB and the anions in the release medium. The cytotoxicity effect of the resulting nanocomposites on normal mouse fibroblast cells is evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. It is observed that the surfactant and polymer coating improved the biocompatibility of the SWSB nanocomposites significantly, which deem further exploitation for their application as potential anticancer drug delivery system.