The drug release kinetics and anticancer activity of the GO/PVA-curcumin nanostructures: The effects of the preparation method and the GO amount.

The graphene oxide (GO) incorporated polyvinyl alcohol/sodium alginate (PVA-SA) composites with curcumin were prepared by the solvent casting and electrospinning techniques. The GO was incorporated into PVA-SA nanofiber and film matrixes, and the performance of these nanocomposites as drug carriers was investigated. The effects of production method (film or mat) and GO amount on the water absorption properties and delivery of curcumin behaviors were investigated. The swelling and releasing were studied at the specific interval times in deionized water and phosphate buffer solution (pH = 7.4), respectively. The release kinetics was evaluated to find a suitable mechanism of the release. Finally, the anticancer activity of composite nanofibers on the cancer cells was investigated. The XRD and FTIR analyses confirmed nanocomposites structures, and the successful incorporation was shown by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that addition of the GO to PVA/SA decreased swelling ratio of the films (up to 31%) and increased the swelling ratio of the mats (up to 37.5%). However, for both film and mat, increasing of the GO amount reduced the curcumin release. Drug release decreasing up to 22.5% was observed for film, while a very high release decreasing up to about 70% was seen for mat. Also, both film and mat structures showed significant anti-cancer activity on MCF-7 cells. The lower cell viability was about 40 and 30% for film and mat, respectively. The kinetics evaluations suggested a Korsmeyer-Peppas model and Fickian controlled drug release.