Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nanotechnol.

Sec. Nanomaterials

Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnano.2025.1634225

Dextran-Coated Fe3O4 Nanoparticles with Ratio-Dependent Drug Loading: Structural Characterization and Cytotoxicity in Colorectal Cancer Cells

Provisionally accepted
Aynura KarimovaAynura Karimova1Sabina HajizadaSabina Hajizada2Habiba ShirinovaHabiba Shirinova1Sevinj NuriyevaSevinj Nuriyeva1Lala GahramanliLala Gahramanli1Aygun MehdiyevaAygun Mehdiyeva1Goncha EyvazovaGoncha Eyvazova1Natalia LenzNatalia Lenz2,3Inji NasirovaInji Nasirova4Christoph ReissfelderChristoph Reissfelder2Vugar YagubluVugar Yagublu2*
  • 1Baku State University, Baku, Azerbaijan
  • 2Universitat Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
  • 3Philipps-Universitat Marburg, Marburg, Germany
  • 4Azerbaijan Medical University, Baku, Azerbaijan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Select one of your emails

You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:

Notify me on publication

Please enter your email address:

If you already have an account, please login

You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here

This study investigates the synthesis and characterization of dextran-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4@Dextran NPs) for the delivery of chrysin, a natural flavonoid with anticancer properties. Fe3O4@Dextran NPs were synthesized via co-precipitation and evaluated as delivery systems for chrysin, which serves as a model drug due to its antitumor potential. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed an average crystallite size of 17 nm, which decreased to approximately 15 nm upon drug loading. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) spectroscopy confirmed successful incorporation of chrysin while maintaining structural stability. Magnetic characterization using a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) demonstrated superparamagnetic behavior, with a saturation magnetization of 69.2 emu/g. Loading efficiencies of 42%, 54%, and 57% were achieved at drug-to-nanoparticle ratios of 1:0.5, 1:1, and 1:2, respectively, with evidence of saturation effects at higher drug concentrations. In conclusion, Fe3O4@Dextran+D2 showed favorable structural integrity, as evidenced by XRD and FTIR analyses, along with notable anticancer activity against HCT-116 cells. Its performance is attributed to optimal drug loading without surface saturation, supporting its potential as a structurally stable drug delivery system.

Keywords: Iron oxide nanoparticles, Dextran coating, Tumor Microenvironment, Surface modification, Drug Carriers

Received: 23 May 2025; Accepted: 08 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Karimova, Hajizada, Shirinova, Nuriyeva, Gahramanli, Mehdiyeva, Eyvazova, Lenz, Nasirova, Reissfelder and Yagublu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Vugar Yagublu, Universitat Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material