Physical-chemical effect of phytol co-encapsulation in methotrexate-loaded polylactic acid nanoparticles
cancer; phytol; methotrexate; polymeric nanoparticle; nanoparticles functionalization; drug co-nanoencapsulation.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world, surpassed only by cardiovascular disease. The lack of specificities of the drugs in the neoplastic tissue, makes the traditional cancer therapy subject to severe undesirable effects. Phytol is a secondary bioactive metabolite of chlorophyll and expresses a promising anticancer activity. Methotrexate is a chemotherapeutics commonly used in the treatment of malignant tumors. Nanoparticles have been studied for drug delivery in order to improve the targeting, enabling site-specific release, as well as overcoming limitations of biological barriers. This study mains the development and monitoring of co-encapsulated nanoparticles loaded phytol and methotrexate and functionalized with polyethelineimine for potential increase in antiproliferative activity in cancer cells. The obtaining methodology used was nanoprecipitation with solvent evaporation. The composition and method parameters were evaluated by measurements of particle diameter, polydispersion index (PdI), zeta potential, pH, infrared absorption spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR), entrapment efficiency and performance indicators, including in vitro released, cell viability and stability studies. The conjugated nanoparticles presented average size around 200 nm (PdI <0.2) and the encapsulation efficiency was over 90% in the co-nanoencapsulated functionalized nanoparticles. Phytol was able to enable a slower and more controlled release in the conjugated nanoparticles. The samples were viable and with spherical morphology. The study promotes the development of a promising platform for co-encapsulated nanoparticles, for future tests of biological activity in vitro and in vivo.