Synthesis of photoluminescent glycodendrimer with terminal β-cyclodextrin molecules as a biocompatible pH-sensitive carrier for doxorubicin delivery

Abstract

In the present research, we prepared new glycodendrimer containing β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) in three steps. At first, graphene quantum dots (GQDs) synthesized through pyrolysis of the citric acid (CA). Then the polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer was grown from the surface of the modified GQDs (GQDs-PAMAM). Finally, the prepared GQDs-PAMAM was functionalized with β-CD to obtain the glycodendrimer (GQDs-PAMAM-β-CD). The synthesized glycodendrimer characterized using several techniques. The phenol-sulfuric acid test obtained the amount of the β-CD about 30.37 %. 61.2 % of doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded in the prepared glycodendrimer. DOX@GQDs-PAMAM-β-CD displayed the pH-sensitive drug release profile, which fitted the Higuchi kinetic model. The biological test outcomes showed that the GQDs-PAMAM-β-CD is a safe carrier with good capability in penetration to the cancer cells. Moreover, DOX@GQDs-PAMAM-β-CD exhibited more efficiency in the killing of the cancer cells compared to neat DOX. Obtained results suggested that prepared glycodendrimer could be a potential nanosystem for breast cancer treatment.

Keywords: Glycodendrimer; Graphene quantum dots; Monitoring of drug release; Nanocarrier; Polyamidoamine; β-cyclodextrin.