Highly efficient sunitinib release from pH-responsive mHPMC@Chitosan core-shell nanoparticles

This study reports developing novel smart drug delivery systems (DDS) that have great importance in anticancer therapeutics. The magnetic hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (mHPMC) synthesized via in situ method and introduced in the fabrication of tripolyphosphate (TPP)-cross-linked chitosan core-shell nano-carriers (mHPMC@Chitosan). The TPP-cross-linked mHPMC@Chitosan nano-carriers then characterized using TEM, SEM/EDS, DLS, XPS, FTIR, TGA, XRD, and VSM. The encapsulation efficiency showed high capacity of loading for sunitinib malate (above 86 % for all samples). At pH 7.4, the minimum content of drug release was observed for all samples fabricated with variable contents of chitosan. At pH 4.5, the effect of chitosan content revealed that the rate of sunitinib release tends to decrease as its content increased. During two days, 44 and 93 % of the loaded sunitinib released from carriers containing high and low contents of chitosan, respectively. Besides, this mHPMC@Chitosan core shell nano-carrier shown pH-sensitive drug release.