The synthesis and characterization of double nanoemulsion for targeted Co-Delivery of 5-fluorouracil and curcumin using pH-sensitive agarose/chitosan nanocarrier

Abstract Due to the dangerous side effects of chemotherapy, advanced methods for curing cancer, such as drug delivery, have attracted much attention because of their high efficacies. Using a green synthesizing method, we prepared a double nano-emulsion agarose/chitosan nanocomposite as the carrier of this work to adjust stability and hydrogel releasing. Curcumin, 5-fluorouracil, and curcumin/5-fluorouracil were loaded into the nano-carrier, and the synthesized systems were characterized by XRD, FESEM, FTIR, DLS, and zeta potential analysis. Loading efficacy and entrapment efficacy of curcumin in the agarose/chitosan nanocomposite were 85.6% and 79.2%, respectively. Drug release profiles proved the pH sensitivity of the nanocomposite by providing a 24–44% difference in drug cumulative release rate between the tumor-simulated and the normal cell-simulated buffers. Also, MTT and the flow cytometry analysis showed the biocompatibility of the carrier and the effect of using both drugs, as a co-delivery system, on cytotoxicity against the MCF-7 cells. These results demonstrate the potential of the chitosan/agarose@curcumin/5-fluorouracil to be a candidate for the targeted treatment of cancer cells.