Quercetin-gold nanorods incorporated into nanofibers: development, optimization and cytotoxicity

Nouf N Mahmoud; Haneen Qabooq; Shrouq Alsotari; Ola A Tarawneh; Nour H Aboalhaija; Sawsan Shraim; Alaaldin M Alkilany; Enam A Khalil; Rana Abu-Dahab

doi:10.1039/d1ra02004h

Quercetin-gold nanorods incorporated into nanofibers: development, optimization and cytotoxicity

RSC Adv. 2021 Jun 7;11(33):19956-19966. doi: 10.1039/d1ra02004h. eCollection 2021 Jun 3.

Authors

Nouf N Mahmoud¹, Haneen Qabooq¹, Shrouq Alsotari², Ola A Tarawneh¹, Nour H Aboalhaija¹, Sawsan Shraim¹, Alaaldin M Alkilany³, Enam A Khalil³, Rana Abu-Dahab³

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan Amman 11733 Jordan nouf.mahmoud@zuj.edu.jo.
² Cell Therapy Center, The University of Jordan Amman 11942 Jordan.
³ School of Pharmacy, The University of Jordan Amman 11942 Jordan.

Abstract

Herein, a polymeric nanofiber scaffold loaded with Quercetin (Quer)-gold nanorods (GNR) was developed and characterized. Several parameters related to loading Quer into GNR, incorporating the GNR-Quer into polymeric solutions, and fabricating the nanofibers by electrospinning were optimized. GNR-Quer loaded into a polymeric mixture of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) (21%) and poloxamer 407 (23%) has produced intact GNR-Quer-nanofibers with enhanced physical and mechanical properties. GNR-Quer-nanofibers demonstrated a slow pattern of Quer release over time compared to nanofibers free of GNR-Quer. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) revealed enhanced uniformity and homogeneity of the GNR-Quer-nanofibers. GNR-Quer-nanofibers demonstrated a high ability to retain water upon incubation in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) for 24 h compared to nanofibers free of GNR-Quer. A cellular toxicity study indicated that the average cellular viability of human dermal fibroblasts was 76% after 24 h of exposure to the nanofibers containing a low concentration of GNR-Quer.