Polymeric nanocarriers for magnetic targeted drug delivery: preparation, characterization, and in vitro and in vivo evaluation

In this paper the preparation of magnetic nano-carriers (MNCs), containing superparamagnetic domains, isreported, useful as potential magnetically targeted drug deliverysystems. The preparation of MNCs was performed by using thePHEA-IB-p(BMA) graft copolymer as coating material throughthe homogenization−solvent evaporation method. Magnetic andnonmagnetic nanocarriers containing flutamide (FLU-MNCs)were prepared. The prepared nanocarriers have been exhaustivelycharacterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmissionelectron microscopy (TEM), and magnetic measurements.Biological evaluation was performed by in vitro cytotoxicity andcell uptake tests and in vivo biodistribution studies. Magneticnanocarriers showed dimensions of about 300 nm with a narrowsize distribution, an amount of loaded FLU of 20% (w/w), and a superparamagnetic behavior. Cell culture experiments performed on prostate cancer cell line LNCaP demonstrated the cytotoxic effect of FLU-MNCs. In vivo biodistribution studies carried out by the application of an external magnetic field in rats demonstrated the effect of the external magnet on modifying the biodistribution of FLU-MNCs. FLU-MNCs resulted efficiently internalized by tumor cells and susceptible to magnetic targeting by application of an external magnetic field. The proposed nanocarriers can represent a very promising approach to obtain an efficient magnetically targeted anticancer drug delivery system.