Mesoporous silica nanoparticle core-shell matrix (MSN CSM) engineered by green approach for pH triggered release of anticancer drugs

The present work exhibits an alternative route to design a nano-carrier using simple electrostatic interactions of biopolymeric layers on Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle surface using Layer by Layer (LbL) technique. The doxorubicin (DOX) loaded MSN nano-carrier is coated with positively charged chitosan followed by a coating of negatively charged sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (Na-CMC) to form a DOX-loaded MSN Core-Shell Matrix (DOX-MSN CSM). The prepared MSN nano-carrier exhibits a high encapsulation efficiency of DOX (∼93 %) due to its porous nature (∼832 m²/gm) and negative surface charge (-21.5 mV). It exhibits a controlled release of DOX (∼21 %) at physiological pH (7.4 pH) and improved drug release (∼67 %) at cancer cells pH (5.4 pH) after 48 h. Further, the in-vitro cell line study using MDA-MB 231 cells reconfirms the slower and controlled release of DOX from the engineered DOX-MSN CSM. The confocal microscopy result shows that the DOX is internalized via endocytosis into the nucleus of the cells. The cell viability assay confirms more cells viable (∼76 %) for DOX-MSN CSM than free DOX (∼49 %) at the end of 24 h. The present study shows an alternate route to the conventional complex multi-step processes such as coupling reactions or chemical crosslinkers involving solvents. The proposed MSN core–shell matrix can be a potential nano-carrier for cancer drug delivery.