Facile synthesis of magnetic-/pH-responsive hydrogel beads based on Fe3O4 nanoparticles and chitosan hydrogel as MTX carriers for controlled drug release.

In the present study, methotrexate (MTX)-encapsulated magnetic-/pH-responsive hydrogel beads based on Fe3O4 nanoparticles and chitosan were successfully prepared through a one-step gelation process, which is a very facile, economic and environmentally friendly route. The developed hydrogel beads exhibited homogeneous porous structure and super-paramagnetic responsibility. MTX can be successfully encapsulated into magnetic chitosan hydrogel beads, and the drug encapsulation efficiency (%) and encapsulation content (%) were 93.8 and 6.28%, respectively. In addition, the drug release studies in vitro indicated that the MTX-encapsulated magnetic chitosan hydrogel beads had excellent pH-sensitivity, 90.6% MTX was released from the magnetic chitosan hydrogel beads within 48 h at pH 4.0. WST-1 assays in human liver hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) demonstrated that the MTX-encapsulated magnetic chitosan hydrogel beads had good cytocompatibility and high anti-tumor activity. Therefore, our results revealed that the MTX-encapsulated magnetic chitosan hydrogel beads would be a competitive candidate for controlled drug release in the area of targeted cancer therapy in the near future.