pH-responsive polyphenol-zinc oxide hybrid nanoparticles for anticancer drug delivery

Abstract

Organic-inorganic hybrid nanomaterial fabricated by the interactions between organic and inorganic matters has attracted great deal of attention for the introduction of novel functions. Zinc oxide nanoparticles show many biological activities such as anticancer and antibacterial. The tea polyphenol has been reported as the potential anticancer agent. In this work, we interested in combination of tea polyphenol and zinc oxide as the organic-inorganic hybrid nanomaterial for delivery of antitumor agents. Herein, we have developed drug delivery system from the complexation of zinc oxide and natural product extract. We showed the particles fabrication, characterization and drug delivery application of this organic-inorganic hybrid material. Delivering of drugs (doxorubicin and paclitaxel) by the tea polyphenol-ZnO nanoparticles into cancerous cells was achieved. We also verified that the particles can be taken up into the cancer cell by endocytosis mechanism and endosome burst to release chemicals to cytosol as the mechanism of releasing of the particles.