Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles synthesis with PAMAM-like dendrimers grown in situ on their surface for potential therapeutic use

Abstract Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles are among the most promising materials, widely used to design novel platforms for treating diseases, including cancer, due to their biocompatibility and structure that enables a wide range of surface functionalization, as observed with polymers. In this work, we grew a polymeric structure, poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM-G4.0-like dendrimer), on the surface of nHAp. The resulting materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to determine their size, morphology, crystallinity, and chemical composition. In vitro cytotoxicity was evaluated through MTT assays on two breast cancer cell lines, MDA-MB-231 and SK-BR-3, and in the healthy MCF-12F breast cell line. Results demonstrated that PAMAM-G4.0-like dendrimer growth was successfully achieved on the surface of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles and that the resulting material had no toxic effects on cells, making it a suitable candidate as a biocompatible platform for the delivery of biomolecules, such as drugs or genes.