Abstract
New methodologies for the treatment of cancer continue to be developed, with an emphasis on improved specificity and targeted delivery to tumor cells. An innovative crumpled graphene oxide (CGO)-based drug delivery system (DDS) was fabricated via a single-step aerosol methodology to achieve reduced material toxicity and to enhance the drug-loading capacity for an anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX). Specifically, the CGO-based systems feature reduced particle sizes and preserved surface modifiability compared with the current graphene oxide (GO)-based systems. In addition, the CGO-based drug delivery system can be loaded with the drug DOX by either surface attachment or one-step aerosol-based encapsulation. The particle size, drug-loading capacity, drug release profile, and in vivo toxicity of the synthesized DDS nanoparticles were evaluated in this study. The synthesis for the CGO DDS was a one-step aerosolized approach in a furnace aerosol reactor (FuAR). The synthesized structures were loaded with the drug to form composites, with DOX either loaded on the surface or encapsulated inside the structure. The one-step aerosol synthesis process produced CGO particles with a significantly smaller particle size (350.55 +/- 91.43 nm) than GO (635.32 +/- 80.41 nm), with a similar loading capacity for DOX (0.52 +/- 0.01 mg/mg) compared to sheet GO (0.57 +/- 0.07 mg/mg). At a pH of 7.4, the CGO loaded with DOX composite exhibited a similar asymptotic percentage of release (11.23%) over a 24 h period compared to the GO composite (13.12%). In vivo toxicity studies on mice indicated that CGO demonstrated less toxicity (60 mg/kg) in mice than sheet GO (7.5 mg/kg) in the maximum tolerated dose (MTD). Thus, the crumpled graphene oxide particles, along with those pretreated polyethylene glycol (PEG) surface modifications, can offer solutions for developing a suitable drug delivery system for cancer treatment.