Investigation of Various Cross-Linking Methods for the Immobilization of Cytosine Arabinoside on Bacterial Magnetosomes

Bacterial magnetosomes (BMs) have emerged as potential drug delivery vehicles, possessing an iron oxide or iron sulfide core surrounded by a natural lipid membrane shell. In this study, we immobilized cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) effectively on BMs by using various methods such as direct absorption (ABMs), and others include different cross-linkers such as genipin (GP) and glutaraldehyde (G). A well-dispersed Ara-C coupled bacterial magnetosomes resulted in significantly higher negative charge than that of naked BMs (-11.5 +/- 0.3 mV) confirming the drug loading. Out of all methods, direct absorption process led to the highest encapsulation efficiency and drug loading of 88.2 +/- 4.3% and 46.9 +/- 1.2%, respectively. These designs have shown the long-term drug release behavior without an initial burst release. Our results indicate that BMs-based nanoconjugates will potentially find widespread applications in pharmaceutical field.