Synthesis and in vivo investigation of therapeutic effect of magnetite nanofluids in mouse prostate cancer model

Nanofluids containing superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) stabilized with a biocompatible polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG) of molecular weight 4000 were synthesized by suitable modification of the standard synthetic procedure with a controlled co-precipitation technique in one-pot approach in a vacuum environment. The obtained samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Vibrating Sample Magnetometry (VSM). The therapeutic effect of magnetic nanofluids containing bare and PEG-coated magnetite nanoparticles has been studied in either monotherapy or combined therapy with anticancer drug mitoxantrone in mouse prostate cancer model. The therapeutic effect was the strongest in combined use of mitoxantrone with magnetite nanoparticles.