Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Carbon nanotubes are prepared by magnetic targeting drug carrier in the magnetic field to better drug delivery to target organs or tissues in vivo.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the inhibitory effect of the magnetic carbon nanotubes as a new chemotherapy carrier on lymph node metastasis of colon cancer.
METHODS: The inhibitory effects of different concentrations of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), magnetic multi-walled carbon nanotubes-5-fluorouracil (mMWNTs-5-FU) and magnetic multi-walled carbon nanotubes (mMWNTs) (0.000 3, 0.003, 0.03, 0.3,   3 g/L 5-FU) on the growth of SW480 cells in vitro were measured by 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. 5-FU, mMWNTs-5-FU and mMWNTs were injected into subcutaneous footpad of Sprague-Dawley rats and lymph node metastasis of colon cancer nude mice.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Treatment of the cancer cells with various concentrations (0.000 3, 0.003, 0.03, 0.3, 3 g/L 5-FU) of mMWNTs-5-FU caused a dose-dependent decrease in cell viability relative to the control culture, with the same 5-FU levels. The in vitro inhibition of SW480 cells had no significant difference, showing the main ingredient of mMWNTs-5-FU is 5-FU. High pressure liquid chromatography detection in vivo showed that mMWNTs-5-FU could effectively gather in the lymph nodes and prolong release. Lymph concentration was better than 5-FU (P < 0.05), and adverse reactions were less, visually easy to identify, cell-penetrating good; terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling method detected clear apoptosis of lymph node metastasis cells after the mMWNTs-5-FU chemotherapy. This shows colon cancer lymph node metastasis is significantly inhibited by mMWNTs-5-FU chemotherapy.