Experimental adsorption of drug loading for nano-carriers

This study focuses on preparing and characterizing mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with two distinct pore sizes: small and large. The MSNs were employed to encapsulate paclitaxel (PTX), achieving enhanced drug-loading capacity and improved cytotoxicity. The MSNs synthesis by modified sol-gel method and the pore size can be modified by adding the mesitylene to MSNs for 1, 3, and 5hr. The drug loading was carried out by dissolving the PTX drug with different solvents, water, ethanol, DMSO, and dichloromethane by the Adsorption method and measuring the drug loading capacity and drug loading efficiency for both types of mesoporous silica nanoparticles. All MSNs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR),  adsorption isotherms, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD)  analysis for determination of their characterizations. In-vitro, The effects of pore sizes of MSNs on the loading of PTX and its release from  MSNs were conducted at two pH conditions: pH= 7.4 and 5.5 as representative of physiological and cancer environment conditions. The released PTX from PTX-loaded MSNs into the pH of the physiological environment was slower than that into the cancer environment. The release of PTX was strongly pH-dependent on the selected media.