Mesoporous nano-bioglass designed for the release of imatinib and in vitro inhibitory effects on cancer cells

•Simple and cost effective sol-gel method for the synthesis of mesoporous nanobioglass•Stimuli-responsive drug release system•Multifunctional nanobioglass have uses in tissue regeneration and anticancer drug delivery.•Mesoporous nanobioglass demonstrated improved bioactivity.

For treating bone cancer, controlled drug delivery is an important strategy. Bioactive scaffolds are widely used biomaterials due to their usefulness in localized drug delivery. The aim of this study was to develop mesoporous bioglass (MBG) with improved bioactivity and controllable drug delivery rate. By using pluronic 123 (P123) as a template, a facile sol-gel route was employed for the synthesis of MBG nanoparticles (NPs). The composition of the prepared sample was estimated by using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). These nanoparticles demonstrated the specific surface area of 310 m2/g and pore size of 13 nm as measured by brunauer-emmett-teller (BET) and barrett-joyner-halenda (BJH) method, respectively. The spherical shape of NPs was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Imatinib (IMT); an anti-cancer drug was loaded with the efficiency of 77.59%. The drug release kinetics were precisely controlled by changing the pH (4.4 to 10.4) as well as drug loading concentration (0.2-1.0 mg/mL). The maximum cumulative drug release of 81% was observed over a time period of 250 h at pH of 4.4. Importantly, significant inhibitory effects on the viability of the MG-63 osteocarcinoma cancer cells at 12.19 μg/mL of IMT-MBG were observed. Furthermore, MBG demonstrated ionic dissolution with the release of Ca, K, Si, Na, and P ions upon immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF), which support the formation of hydroxycarbonate apatite (HCA), as confirmed by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) pattern and fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. These features proved that IMT-MBG system is effective for bone tissue regeneration and bone cancer treatment.

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