Fabrication and characterization of PEGylated magnetite nanoparticles for sustained curcumin release: in-vitro study

A novel approach was adopted to synthesize size-controlled magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with different molecular weights of polyethylene glycol (PEG), like PEG 750, PEG 2000, and PEG 5000. The drug release kinetics of curcumin (CPMNPs) loaded PEGylated samples were studied. Different techniques used to characterize nanoparticles, like transmission electron microscopy (TEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The in-vitro studies of curcumin from CPMNPs samples observed a sustained release through kinetics studies from the PMNPs that followed a pseudo-second order reaction. MNPs functionalized with different molecular weights of PEG to make the MNPS biocompatible; moreover, the role of PEG on sustained release of curcumin was also investigated. It was concluded that the particles synthesized at pH-10 coated with PEG of molecular weight 750 exhibited the highest sustained release efficiency of curcumin, i.e., about 98.8%.