Synthesis and Characterization of Modified SiO2 Nanofibers to Evaluate the Release of Doxorubicin (DOX) Anticancer Drug

Doxorubicin (DOX), which is used to treat malignant cancerous tumors, has a high toxicity that by controlling the release of the drug into tumor cells, at the right time and place, the toxicity of the released drug and its side effects can be reduced. In this study, we investigated the release of doxorubicin from SiO2/DOX nanofibers in vitro. Electospun synthesized nanofibers from SiO2/DOX nanoparticles, were used to investigate the release of doxorubicin anticancer drug. X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique showed amorphous structure for nanofibers. According to field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images, the diameter and approximate length of the synthesized nanofibers were 300-400 nm and several tens of micrometers. Based on the analysis of X-energy diffraction (EDX) spectroscopy, the amount of silicon, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and chlorine in the samples were: 30.18, 31.84, 29.83, 4.41, and 3.75 percent in the samples, respectively. Xmap analysis showed the homogeneous distribution of silicon, oxygen, carbon, chlorine and nitrogen atoms in nanofibers. Functional species and chemical bonds of nanofibers were detected by FT-IR analysis and showed that silicon has peaks at 1090, 804 cm-1 are related to asymmetric tensile, symmetric tensile vibrations at the Si–O–Si bond. Moreover, vibrations of Si–OH were appeared in the range of 3200 and 3600 cm-1. Drug release to applicant synthesized nanofibers, was investigated in vitro at 37 °C and pH=5.4. As a result, the produced nanofibers have the best and longest release time at pH=5.4 and can be used as drug carriers in targeted treatment anticancer drugs.