Controlled growth of titanium dioxide nanotubes for doxorubicin loading and studies of in vitro antitumor activity

Yunshan Zhang; Tuo Huang; Wanwan Lv; Kai Yang; Cuiling Ouyang; Minxin Deng; Rongyuan Yi; Hui Chu; Jian Chen

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2023.1201320

Controlled growth of titanium dioxide nanotubes for doxorubicin loading and studies of in vitro antitumor activity

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 May 11:11:1201320. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1201320. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yunshan Zhang¹, Tuo Huang², Wanwan Lv², Kai Yang², Cuiling Ouyang², Minxin Deng², Rongyuan Yi³, Hui Chu², Jian Chen²

Affiliations

¹ Research Center for Intelligent Sensing Systems, Zhejiang Lab, Hangzhou, China.
² School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, Hunan, China.
³ Fourth Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Hunan Cancer Hospital/The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) materials are suitable for use as drug carriers due to their natural biocompatibility and nontoxicity. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to investigate the controlled growth of TiO₂ nanotubes (TiO₂ NTs) of different sizes via an anodization method, in order to delineate whether the size of NTs governs their drug loading and release profile as well as their antitumor efficiency. TiO₂ NTs were tailored to sizes ranging from 25 nm to 200 nm according to the anodization voltage employed. The TiO₂ NTs obtained by this process were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering The larger TiO₂ NTs exhibited greatly improved doxorubicin (DOX)-loading capacity (up to 37.5 wt%), which contributed to their outstanding cell-killing ability, as evidenced by their lower half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50). Comparisons were carried out of cellular uptake and intracellular release rates of DOX for large and small TiO₂ NTs loaded with DOX. The results showed that the larger TiO₂ NTs represent a promising therapeutic carrier for drug loading and controlled release, which could improve cancer treatment outcomes. Therefore, TiO₂ NTs of larger size are useful substances with drug-loading potency that may be used in a wide range of medical applications.

Keywords: anodization voltages; antitumor efficiency; cellular uptake; drug loading and release; titanium dioxide nanotubes.

Grants and funding

This project was financially supported by the Key Research Project (2022MH0AC01), the Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department (Grant No. 19C0774), the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, China (Grant No. 2020JJ5156), and the Student Research and Innovation Program of Hunan University of Science and Technology (Grant Nos YZ2143 and ZZ2109).