Stability, Cellular Uptake, and in Vivo Tracking of Zwitterion Modified Graphene Oxide as a Drug Carrier

In this paper, a novel kind of zwitterion modified graphene oxide (GO) for promoting stability and reducing aggregation of GO as a drug carrier was proposed and demonstrated. Specifically, the GO was functionalized with a kind of zwitterion based silane, 3-(dimethyl(3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl)-ammonio)propane-1-sulfonate (SBS). After zwitterion modification, the SBS functionalized GO (GO-SB) shows significantly enhanced stability in both serum-free and serum-containing solution, especially after loading doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX). According to drug release profiles, the drug-loaded GO-SB exhibits thermosensitive and sustained release behavior. Meanwhile, in vitro studies show that the DOX loaded GO-SB could be easily internalized by HepG2 cells and exhibit obvious cytotoxicity on the cells. And, in vivo studies demonstrate that the GO-SB drug carrier is capable of being taken by the larvae of zebrafish and can be eliminated from the body within several days.