Facile in situ synthesis of CuO nanoparticles through the copper-crosslinked carboxymethylcellulose hydrogel bead: a potential implantable anticancer drug delivery system

In this work, copper acetate was applied as a CMC physical crosslinker for the preparation of CMC hydrogel beads, and then copper oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs) were synthesized with in situ method via alkaline media treatment. Methotrexate as a model anticancer drug was loaded by immersing the hydrogel beads in the standard solution of drug. The FT-IR, XRD, and SEM studies were used to confirm the formation of CuONPs in the hydrogel. Using various analyses, the fabricated Cu-crosslinked carboxymethylcellulose/CuO bio-nanocomposite hydrogel beads (Cu-CMC/CuO) were characterized, confirming the synthesizing CuONPs with a particle size of 50–200 nm. The prepared hydrogel beads showed a maximum swelling rate of 40 at different pH values. To establish the productivity of the bio-nanocomposite hydrogel beads as a controlled-release system, the drug release analyses were performed in mimicking conditions of the cancer tissue microenvironment. The formed CuONPs in the CMC hydrogel matrix enhancing the possible interaction with drug in the conditions of cancer tissue microenvironment make a sustained release profile of about 40% in 8 h. The MTT test confirmed that the hydrogel beads have notable cytotoxicity toward blood cancer cells (K562, IC50 value: about 10 µg/mL). The obtained results presented that the fabricated hydrogel beads could potentially be proposed as an implantable carrier for the administration of anticancer agents.