Nitric oxide releasing superparamagnetic (Fe3O4-Au@NTHP) nanoparticles were synthesized by conjugation of human biomarker of nitric oxide, N-nitrosothioproline with iron oxide-gold (Fe3O4-Au) core shell nanoparticles. The structure and morphology of the prepared nanoparticles were confirmed by ATR-FTIR, HR-TEM, EDAX, XPS, DLS and VSM measurements. N-nitrosothioproline is a natural molecule and nontoxic to humans. Thus, the core shell nanoparticles prepared were highly biocompatible. The prepared Fe3O4-Au@NTHP nanoparticles also provided an excellent release of nitric oxide in dark and upon light irradiation for cancer treatment. The amount of NO release was controllable with the wavelength of light and time of irradiation. The developed nanoparticles provided efficient cellular uptake and good cytotoxicity in picomolar range when tested on HeLa cancerous cells. These nanoparticles on account of their controllable NO release can also be used to release small amount of NO for killing cancerous cells without any toxic effect. Furthermore, the magnetic and photochemical properties of these nanoparticles provides dual platform for magneto therapy and phototherapy for cancer treatment.
Keywords: Cancer therapeutics; Core-shell nanoparticles; Nature’s molecule; Photocontrolled release; Superparamagnetic.
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