Pegah Khosravian - Medical Plants Research Center, Basic Health Sciences Institute, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran

Nanoparticle drug delivery system (NDDS) has great potential for enhancing the efficacy of traditional chemotherapeutic drugs. Celastrol (Cel), a plant triterpene, plays important role in inhibiting proliferation and inducing apoptosis of gastric cancer cells. In this study, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) were loaded with celastrol and the prepared nanoparticles were coated by Eudragit to produce Eu/MSNs@Cel. The prepared Eu/MSNs@Cel were investigated by SEM, TEM, BET, DLS, XRD, TGA and FTIR methods. The MSNs have spherical shape and the final nanoparticles size were about 150 nm. Also, TGA analysis approves creation of Eudragit coat on the nanoparticles. The cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles was investigated on AGS cell line. Due to the acidic environment of the cancer cells, the nanoparticles show pH sensitive release of the drug at acidic pH. On the other hand, MTT and apoptosis analysis was showed that Eu/MSNs@Cel were more effective in the killing AGS cell line than Cel. Therefore, Eu/MSNs@Cel is a more effective NDDS for AGS cell line.

mesoporous silica nanoparticles, celastrol, Eudragit