Synergistic combination of antioxidants, silver nanoparticles and chitosan in a nanoparticle based formulation: Characterization and cytotoxic effect on MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines

Hypothesis: Chitosan (Cs) is a biocompatible, biodegradable cationic polymer having the ability of targeted drug delivery. Vitamin E and C are not synthesized in our body thus, when encapsulated within a carrier system these vitamins in combination with/alone can be utilized for their anti-cancer potentials. Experiment: The present investigation was conducted to develop a stable nanoparticle based formulation encapsulating antioxidants (Vitamin E, catechol) and silver nanoparticles synthesized from Hibiscus rosasinensis (HRS) petal extracts within a chitosan matrix. The prepared nanoformulations were characterized using Field emission scanning electron microscopy (Fe-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). They were further tested for their antioxidant potentials using DPPH assay, hydrogen peroxide scavenging assay, nitric oxide scavenging assay and ferrous antioxidant reducing potential assay. Findings: The nanoformulations were found to be highly hemocompatible and showed high encapsulation efficiency up to 76%. They also showed higher antioxidant activity than their base materials. Further, their anti-cancer efficacy was observed against MCF-7 breast cancer cells having IC50 values of 53.36 +/- 0.36 mu g/mL (chitosan-ascorbic acid-glucose), 55.28 +/- 0.85 mu g/mL (chitosan-Vitamin E), 63.72 +/- 0.27 mu g/mL (Chitosan-catechol) and 58.53 +/- 0.55 mu g/mL (chitosan-silver nanoparticles). Thus, the prepared formulations can be therapeutically applied for effective and targeted delivery in breast cancer treatment. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.