Functionalized Mesoporous Silica as Doxorubicin Carriers and Cytotoxicity Boosters

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) bearing methyl, thiol or glucose groups were synthesized, and their encapsulation and release behaviors for the anticancer drug Doxorubicin (Dox) were investigated in comparison with nonporous homologous materials. The chemical modification of thiol-functional silica with a double bond glucoside was completed for the first time, by green thiol-ene photoaddition. The MSNs were characterized in terms of structure (FT-IR, Raman), morphology (TEM), porosity (nitrogen sorption–desorption) and Zeta potential measurements. The physical interactions responsible for the Dox encapsulation were investigated by analytic methods and MD simulations, and were correlated with the high loading efficiency of MSNs with thiol and glucose groups. High release at pH 5 was observed in most cases, with thiol-MSN exhibiting 98.25% cumulative release in sustained profile. At pH 7.4, the glucose-MSN showed 75.4% cumulative release, while the methyl-MSN exhibited a sustained release trend. The in vitro cytotoxicity was evaluated on NDHF, MeWo and HeLa cell lines by CellTiter-Glo assay, revealing strong cytotoxic effects in all of the loaded silica at low equivalent Dox concentration and selectivity for cancer cells. Atypical applications of each MSN as intravaginal, topical or oral Dox administration route could be proposed.