NANOPARTÍCULAS DE SÍLICA IMPREGNADAS COM EXTRATO DE POLPA DE GUAVIRA: PREPARAÇÃO E AVALIAÇÃO DA ATIVIDADE ANTIPROLIFERATIVA in vitro

Abstract

Cancer is among the leading causes of death in the world and studies involving nanoparticles for its treatment are increasingly highlighted in the international scenario, mainly due to its unique characteristics of carrying and controlled delivery of drugs. Recent data show that guavira pulp extract (EPG) has promising antitumor activity against melanoma induced in mice, but its insolubility in the biological environment evidenced to be an obstacle for practical applications. This work aims at the synthesis of silica nanoparticles (SiO2NPs) and its use as carrier of EPG in aqueous solution aiming at the development of a new antitumor composite material. SiO2NPs were synthesized using the modified Stöber method and presented spherical morphology with sizes of approximately 100 - 200 nm, in a monodispersion regime. SiO2NPs pristine and amino-functionalized (f-SiO2NPs) were impregnated with EPG up to concentrations of 76.32% and 68.50% by mass, respectively. Therefore, it was concluded that both NPs were able to carry the EPG, but the process was more efficient for the non-functionalized case. Pure EPG showed antiproliferative activity against B16-F10, MCF-7 and NHI/3T3 cell lines, with GI50 values of 16.17, 17.90 and 24.98 µg.mL-1, respectively, while the SiO2NPs and f-SiO2NPs samples, without the addition of EPG, presented GI50 values above 250 µg.mL-1. The in vitro antiproliferative activity tests for the composites showed an inhibitory effect on the B16-F10 strain, where the SiO2NPs/EPG and f-SiO2NPs/EPG composites resulted in GI50 values of 66.67 and 82.06 µg.mL-1, respectively, which indicates that at these concentrations these composites enabled the inhibition of 50% of cell growth. Thus, the results obtained in this work showed the obtention of a new, simple and low cost composite material having specific properties to inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells by carrying the active compound EPG in aqueous medium.