Design of double functionalized carbon nanotube for amphotericin B and genetic material delivery

• Published in: Scientific reports 2022-12, Vol.12 (1), p.21114-15, Article 21114
• Main Authors: Yazdani, Sara, Mozaffarian, Mehrdad, Pazuki, Gholamreza, Hadidi, Naghmeh, Gallego, Idoia, Puras, Gustavo, Pedraz, Jose Luis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/61; 639/166/898; Amphotericin B; Amphotericin B - pharmacology; Antifungal agents; Carbon; Carboxylic acids; Cell membranes; Cell viability; Gene transfer; Humanities and Social Sciences; Immunoglobulins; Impurities; multidisciplinary; Nanotechnology; Nanotubes; Nanotubes, Carbon; pH effects; Phospholipids; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Toxicity
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-25222-1

In the present work, single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) were successively functionalized with phospholipid DSPE-PEG carboxylic acid, and then, with ethylenediamine (EDA), to obtain double functionalized single wall carbon nanotube (DFSWCNT). Then, DFSWCNT was applied as a carrier for delivering amphotericin B (Amb) and EGFP plasmid. FSWCNT’s concentration obtained via UV–visible analysis was 0.99 mg/mL. The TGA analysis results provided the lost weights of DSPE-PEG-COOH, EDA, Amb and SWCNT impurities. XPS results showed that carbon atoms’ percentage decreased during the functionalization processes from 97.2% (SWCNT) to 76.4% (FSWCNT) and 69.9% (DFSWNCT). Additionally, the oxygen atoms’ percentage increased from 2.3% (SWCNT) to 21% and 22.5% for FSWCNT and DFSWCNT, respectively. New bonds such as C–N and N–C=O appeared in the synthesized nanocarrier. The I G /I D ratio in Raman analysis decreased from 7.15 (SWCNT) to 4.08 (FSWCNT). The amount of Amb released to phosphate buffer saline medium was about 33% at pH = 5.5 and 75% at pH = 7.4 after 48 h. CCK8 results confirmed that the toxicity of functionalized SWCNT had decreased. In a 2:1 ratio of DFSWCNT/EGFP plasmid, the cell viability (87%) and live transfected cells (56%) were at their maximum values. The results indicate that carbon nanotubes have the potential to be applied as drug/gene delivery systems with outstanding properties such as high loading capacity and easy penetration to cell membrane.