Antiproliferative effects of new magnetic pH-responsive drug delivery system composed of Fe3O4, CaAl layered double hydroxide and levodopa on melanoma cancer cells

In this study, an efficient drug delivery system composed of Fe3O4, CaAl layered double hydroxide (LDH) and L-Dopa has been synthesized through hydrogen bonds between L-Dopa and CaAl-LDH encapsulated Fe3O4 nano-particles (Fe3O4@CaAl-LDH@L-Dopa). The structural features of Fe3O4 @CaAl-LDH@L-Dopa were characterized using XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX, FT-IR, VSM, TGA, XPS, zeta potential analysis and BET. All of the characterization techniques show the uniform high surface area core-shell structure with about 120 nm in average size. Also, the obtained results clearly indicate that this drug delivery system possess high potent for adsorption of L-Dopa (52 wt%) and high drug encapsulation efficiency (71%). The amount of L-Dopa release in low pHs (53.8%) which simulates the environment of cancer cells is greater than higher pHs. The in vitro cytotoxic and anticancer activities of Fe3O4@CaAl-LDH@L-Dopa were investigated against Mel-Rm Cells Melanoma (NCIt: C3224) using LDH colorimetric assay and differential staining cell death assay. The results showed Fe3O4@CaAl-LDH@L-Dopa with a lower concentration of L-Dopa, illustrate a higher cytotoxicity and anticancer activity.