Fabrication of folic acid-conjugated pyrimidine-2(5H)-thione-encapsulated curdlan gum-PEGamine nanoparticles for folate receptor targeting breast cancer cells

Abstract

In this study 5-((2-((3-methoxy benzylidene)-amino)-phenyl)-diazenyl)-4,6-diphenyl pyrimidine-2(5H)-thione was synthesized. The pharmacological applications of pyrimidine analogues are restricted due to their poor pharmacokinetic properties. As a solution, a microbial exopolysaccharide (curdlan gum) was used to synthesize folic acid-conjugated pyrimidine-2(5H)-thione-encapsulated curdlan gum-PEGamine nanoparticles (FA-Py-CG-PEGamine NPs). The results of physicochemical properties revealed that the fabricated FA-Py-CG-PEGamine NPs were between 100 and 400 nm in size with a majorly spherical shaped, crystalline nature, and the encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity were 79.04 ± 0.79 %, and 8.12 ± 0.39 % respectively. The drug release rate was significantly higher at pH 5.4 (80.14 ± 0.79 %) compared to pH 7.2. The cytotoxic potential of FA-Py-CG-PEGamine NPs against MCF-7 cells potentially reduced the number of cells after 24 h with 42.27 μg × mL