Introducing a new pharmaceutical agent: Facile synthesis of CuFe₁₂2O₁₉@HAp-APTES magnetic nanocomposites and its cytotoxic effect on HEK-293 cell as an efficient in vitro drug delivery system for atenolol

In this study, novel CuFe₁₂O₁₉@hydroxyapatite magnetic nanocomposites (CuFe₁₂O₁₉@HAp MNCs) as controlled target drug delivery were synthesized by ultrasound-assisted precipitation method for the first time. Then, the magnetic substrate was functionalized with APTES (CuFe₁₂O₁₉@HAp-APTES MNCs) to increase the efficiency of the drug delivery system. The crystallinity, size, morphology, and composition of the products were determined by FESEM, DLS, BET, TEM, XRD, EDS, and VSM. In order to investigate the drug loading ability of prepared nanocomposites, we chose antihypertensive drug (atenolol) as the model drug. After that, the release behavior of magnetic nanocomposites modified atenolol was investigated under stomach (pH value of 1.5–2) and intestine (pH value of 5.8–6.7) conditions. The results revealed that the highest entrapment efficiency was achieved by CuFe₁₂O₁₉@HAp-APTES MNCs (63.1%). Furthermore, the controlled-release potential for CuFe₁₂O₁₉@HAp-APTES MNCs was the highest compared with the pure CuFe₁₂O₁₉@HAp MNCs. Increased efficiency can be due to the binding of the amine group in APTES with the atenolol drug. The cytotoxicity of the ATL-loaded magnetic nanocomposites (ATL-CuFe₁₂O₁₉@HAp-APTES MNCs) was investigated on the HEK-293 cell line using MTT assay. Based on the results, we concluded that the synthesized magnetic nanocomposites could be effective vehicles for the sustained delivery of atenolol as an antihypertensive drug.