Crumpled Graphene Oxide (CGO)-based Drug Delivery System
YIMING XI, Shalinee Kavadiya, Daniel Bilbao, Roberts Evan, Russo Marco, Pratim Biswas, University of Miami
Abstract Number: 578
Working Group: Nanoparticles and Materials Synthesis
Abstract
Various methodologies continue to be developed for the treatment of cancer, with emphasis on improved specificity and targeted delivery to tumor cells. A crumpled graphene oxide (CGO)-based drug delivery system (DDS) for cancer treatment was synthesized via an aerosol approach to achieve enhanced drug loading capacity with an anti-cancer drug doxorubicin (DOX). The proposed system with reduced particle size and preserved surface modifiability for active tumor targeting was compared to current graphene oxide (GO)-based systems. The particle size, the drug loading capacity, the drug release profile, and the toxicity of the synthesized DDS nanoparticles were evaluated in the study.
The synthesis method for the CGO was a one-step aerosolized approach using a Furnace Aerosol Reactor (FuAR). The sheet, two-dimensional (2D) graphene oxide (GO) was aerosolized into droplets and passed through a heated tube furnace to evaporate the solvents. During the solvent evaporation, the sheet 2D GO was crumpled into three-dimensional (3D) structures, CGO, due to the capillary force compression [1]. The synthesized CGO had a surface area of 79.091 m^2/g, that was 8.6 times larger than the sheet graphene oxide 9.178 m^2/g, because the crumpling had minimized pi-pi interaction-induced stacking of GO. The crumpled graphene oxide pre-treated with PEG surface modification (CGO-PEG) exhibited higher DOX loading capacity (0.3558 mg/mg) than GO (0.2667 mg/mg) and an asymptotic maximum percent release of 8.1%. In-vivo studies on mice indicated that the CGO demonstrated less toxicity (60 mg/kg) on mice than GO (7.5 mg/kg).
From preliminary results, the enhanced drug loading capacity of the crumpled structure with pre-treatment of PEG is attributed to both enhanced aqueous dispersion of particle and enlarged surface area after the crumpling. The presentation will further demonstrate additional data which will further provide improved understanding.