N. Molahasani - Department of chemistry, East Tehran branch, Islamic Azad university, Tehran, Iran
M. S. Sadjadi - Department of Chemistry, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran,

The clinical use of the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) is limited by strong side effects and phenomena of cell resistance. Drug targeting by binding DOX to nanoparticles could overcome these limitations. We recently described a method to associate DOX to ZnOnanorods with average size of 21×200 nm. DOX is bound to the nanoparticle surface through a pre-formed folic acid-SiO2@ZnO conjugate. Characterization of the prepared samples was carried out using Fourier Transform infra-red spectra (FTIR) and UV-Visible spectroscopy.The purpose of this study is to explore the possible mechanisms of the in vitro cytotoxicity of DOX-loaded ZnO nanorods. The potential of anticancer drug (doxorubicin) loaded on the as prepared nanoparticles against the resistant leukemia cancer cells, K562, was evaluated usingthe MTT assay and its antitumor efficacy of the drug-loaded NRs was clearly enhanced, compared with free drugs

ZnO nanorods, Doxorubicin, Cytotoxicity, cancer cells, Folic acid, Drug delivery