Fabrication and characterization of PLGA polymeric nanoparticles containing berberine and its cytotoxicity on breast cancer cell (MCF-7)

Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the world which threatening the lives of millions of people every year. Common treatments for cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and radiotherapy, which have been limited and sometimes ineffective due to the adverse side effects, multidrug resistance, prolongation of the treatment period and, most importantly, the ineffectiveness of these treatments. The use of modern medical therapies based on nanotechnology is one of the noteworthy ways to overcome these therapeutic limitations. In this study, different formulations of PLGA polymer nanoparticles were synthesized using dual emulsion method (W1 / O / W2) and berberine was loaded into them. The optimal formula of PLGA containing berberine had 85.2% encapsulation efficiency, size 234 nm and surface charge -8.21. Also, the IC50 of PLGA containing berberine (42.39 μg / ml) compared to IC50 free drug (80.18 μg / ml) had higher cytotoxicity in killing cancer cells. The system had a slow release pattern and the maximum rate of release from nanoparticles was 61.46% in 48 hours. Also, the synthesized PLGA polymer system was approved for surface morphology and infrared spectroscopy. Our findings show that PLGA polymer systems containing berberine have the potential to stop the growth of breast cancer cells that provide a promising future and an interesting therapeutic strategy in cancer treatment.