Ceria-Doped Titania Nanoparticles as Drug Delivery System

Abstract

The development of new devices at the nanoscale level, as therapeutic support in medical practice, has facilitated the development of drug delivery systems (DDSs) based on nanoparticles. This enables the transport of an effective dose of therapeutic agents to target cells or tissues, with no collateral damage to healthy cells. Owing to their unique properties, nanoparticles doped with rare earths have demonstrated the potential of being used as a DDS of drug molecules to target cells or tissues. In the present work, ceria-doped titania nanoparticles (CeO2/TiO2NPs) were used to form the DNR-CeO2/TiO2NPs complex as a DDS of daunorubicin (DNR), which was tested in a B-lymphocyte cell culture. The CeO2/TiO2NPs were synthesized via the sol–gel process in a microemulsion of reverse micelle. In general, the results indicated that the nanoparticles presented good biocompatibility and load efficiency superior to that reported in other investigations for pure titania nanoparticles, suggesting that the CeO2/TiO2NPs increased intracellular accumulation of the drug. These results indicate that a delivery strategy using CeO2/TiO2NPs is a promising approach in the medical field, particularly in anticancer therapies.