A smart nanoporous theranostic platform for simultaneous enhanced MRI and drug delivery

• Water dispersible MnFe2O4 nanoparticles were fabricated at rather low temperature.
• Mesoporous ZnO nanoparticles were employed as carrier to transport anticancer drug.
• Magnetic particles were tethered onto the surface of mesoporous ZnO.
• pH responsive drug release was attained to meet the targeted therapy challenge.
• Enhanced magnetic resonance imaging was realized using MnFe2O4 nanoparticles.

Use of inorganic nanoparticles is expectedly improving the prospects of chemotherapy and diagnosis. Here, we report a facile approach to synthesize water dispersible, superparamagnetic manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4) nanoparticles at relatively low temperature. Subsequently, these MnFe2O4 nanoparticles are integrated with acid degradable mesoporous ZnO nanoparticles to attain a platform for simultaneous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and acid triggered anticancer drug delivery. Drug release was evaluated by tuning the pH of buffer solutions to mimic intracellular environment, which demonstrated a biorelevant acid sensitive release behavior. In vitro cell study congruently demonstrated an excellent concentration-dependent cytotoxicity on pancreatic cancer cells, with IC50 of 3 μg/mL composite concentration. As far as imaging results are concerned, relaxivity value (r2) value of our system was found to be measurably higher than commercial T2 MRI contrast agent Ferridex (63.5 mM−1 s−1).This smart nanosystem can be a step forward towards the realization of concurrent effective therapy, monitoring of nanocarrier distribution and disease evolution.

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