The effect of rare-earth nanoparticles on drug delivery

• Main Author: Li, Linda Shi Wen
• Other Authors: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Chemical engineering::Biotechnology; DRNTU::Engineering::Nanotechnology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/45142
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Cancer, being one of the leading causes of death worldwide, has received much attention for the past century. Utilizing nanoparticles as a drug delivery vehicle has become widely popular in cancer therapy. However many classifications of nanoparticles, despite their high efficiency in drug delivery, have been known to have high cytotoxic levels. In recent years, rare-earth nanoparticles were brought to attention, as these up-conversion particles not only facilitate imaging, but have also reduced cytotoxic effects on cells. This project aims to explore and develop a rare-earth based nanoparticle as a drug delivery vehicle. We investigate various synthesis methods to produce the least cytotoxic rare-earth nanoparticle, we evaluate its efficiency in drug delivery and we analyze the changes it induces in cells. The MTT viability test, live/dead assay and cell cycle analysis were performed on various concentrations of naked nanoparticles and drug-loaded nanoparticles. MTT test showed that nanoparticles synthesized via the hydrothermal method showed high toxicity on cells, while the nanoparticle synthesized with a 10-C acid had the least cytotoxic effect and yielded high drug delivery efficiency. We evaluated the results of live/dead assay and confirmed the killing capacity of the drug-loaded nanoparticle. Our cell cycle analysis also showed that the drug-loaded nanoparticles reduced cell replication by arresting the cells in the G1 phase.