Improvement Of Antitumor Activity Of Doxorubicin By Coformulation Of Crocetin And Doxorubicin In PLGANanoparticles

The current study reports investigation of codelivery by PLGA nanoparticles (NPs) loaded withcrocetin (Cro), a natural carotenoid acid that is found in the crocus flower, and Doxorubicin (DOX).Double emulsion/solvent evaporation method was used for preparation of PLGA nanoparticlescontaining Dox and Cro. Characterizations of prepared NPs were investigated by atomic forcemicroscopy (AFM) and dynamic light scattering analysis. In vitro Cytotoxicity of DOX and Cro loadedPLGA NPs (PLGA-DOX-Cro) on MCF-7 cell line was evaluated using MTT test. Flow cytometryexperiments were implemented to distinguish cells undergoing apoptosis from those undergoingnecrosis. Furthermore the expression of caspase 3 was examined by western blot analysis. Results:The prepared formulations had size of 150- 300 nm. Furthermore, PLGA-DOX-Cro nanoparticlesinhibited MCF-7 tumor cells growth more efficiently than either DOX or Cro alone at the sameconcentrations, as quantified by MTT assay and flow cytometry. Studies on cellular uptake of DOXCro-NPs demonstrated that NPs were effectively taken up by MCF-7 tumor cells. This studysuggested that DOX-Cro-NPs may have promising applications in breast cancer therapy.