Clinical Pharmacology & Biopharmaceutics
Open Access

Abstract

Photoluminescent carbon-dots are envisaged as drug delivery vehicle due to their high chemical stability, water solubility, resistance to photodegradation, biocompatibility, low toxicity and easily tuneable optical properties. Use of natural as well as chemical precursors for synthesis of crystalline C-dots and conjugates of C-dot+mesoporous silica and C-dot+gold nanorod using microwave assisted heating in alkaline environment and their use for delivery of therapeutic payloads is reported here. Sucrose density gradient centrifugation was used to separate C-dots from debris. Optical and morphological properties of the C-dots were confirmed by UVVis spectroscopy, Fluorescence spectroscopy, Raman, XRD and FE-SEM. C-dots were biocompatible against MDCK cells. Drugs studied include ciprofloxacin hydrochloride, Doxorubicin, Haloperidol and Curcumin. C-dots/drug+linker complex were dialyzed against nanopure water to remove unattached drug and characterized by FTIR and TGA. Drug loading efficiency and release kinetics were calculated as per different mathematical models. Cipro and C-dots conjugate enhanced the antimicrobial activity against both model gram positive and negative microorganisms. Bovine Serum Albumin protected C-dots and doxorubicin complex having Folic Acid (FA) as navigational molecules have shown �First Order� release of drug. Moreover, epifluorescence microscopy of HeLa-cells exhibited bright green fluorescence due to internalization of C-dots specifically targeted with FA in HeLa cells. When C-dots and GNR complex was used for anchoring DOX via covalent and non-covalent pH sensitive chemical bonds it could load 94% drug that rapidly got released under the influence of near-infrared thus paving way for an efficient nano-carrier, for controlled drug release as well as for bio-imaging, thereby, serving as potential tool for theranostics.

Biography

Email: sharonmadhuri@gmail.com