Fabrication of a pH-Responsive Magnetic Nanocarrier Based on Carboxymethyl Cellulose-Aminated Graphene Oxide for Loading and In-Vitro Release of Curcumin

In this study, a pH-responsive magnetic drug delivery system was prepared by cross-linking of Cofe 2 O 4 /graphene oxide to carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) biopolymer with adipic acid dihydrazide (ADH) and then investigated for loading and release of a poorly water-soluble anti-cancer drug, curcumin (CUR). The CoFe 2 O 4 /GO-ADH-CMC bio-nanocomposite was characterized by FE–SEM/EDX, TEM, FT–IR, XRD, TGA, VSM, and zeta-potential techniques. The highest amount of drug loading was achieved as 23.7 mg g –1 at 323 K, pH 6.0, and 120 mg L –1 CUR concentration. The study of adsorption isotherms revealed that the Sips model was best fitted to the equilibrium data (R 2 > 0.997 and RMSE < 0.48), which indicated the contribution of both chemisorption and physisorption in drug loading. Furthermore, the release profile of CUR from drug-loaded CoFe 2 O 4 /GO-ADH-CMC was studied in mimicking the endosomal (pH = 5.6) and physiological (pH = 7.4) conditions. After 24 h, the maximum cumulative releases were found to be 86 and 38% at pH = 5.6 and 7.4, respectively. Also, the Peppas-Sahlin kinetic model was followed for the release data. The MTT assay exhibited good biocompatibility of the CoFe 2 O 4 /GO-ADH-CMC. The results implied that CoFe 2 O 4 /GO-ADH-CMC magnetic bio-nanocomposite might be utilized as a potentially safe carrier with the continuous and slow release of CUR. Graphical Abstract