Construction of a pH/Temperature dual-responsive drug delivery platform based on exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets for effective delivery of doxorubicin: Parametric optimization via central composite design

The aim of the current work was to develop drug delivery system for encapsulation and release of doxorubicin using exfoliated molybdenum disulfide nanosheets modified N-isopropyl acrylamide/methyl methacrylate. Here, glutamine was conjugated to the surface of molybdenum disulfide nanosheets. Several techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermal gravimetric analysis, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and Zeta potential were applied to characterize the nanoadsorbent. Three important parameters of pH, contact time, and temperature were optimized by the response surface methodology technique. According to the central composite design, the maximum adsorption efficiency of 95% is attained at the pH = 8, contact time of 15 min, and temperature of 30 degrees C. The non-linear isotherms and kinetics sorption of drug onto nanoadsorbent can be excellently simulated by the Freundlich isotherm model and pseudo-second-order kinetic models, respectively. The dual-responsive nanocarrier indicated a slow release profile in simulated blood fluid at pH = 7.4 (T = 37 degrees C), whereas 98% of drug was released when nanocarrier were dissolved in pH = 5.6 (T = 50 degrees C) after 6 h, showing a sustained pH and temperature dependent drug release. The biocompatibility of nanocarrier was evaluated by MTT assay on KB cell line as a breast cancer modal cell.