Design a PEGylated nanocarrier containing lemongrass essential oil (LEO), a drug delivery system: Application as a cytotoxic agent against breast cancer cells

Herbal medicines have various active ingredients with special therapeutic properties. In this study, lemongrass essential oil (LEO) was transferred to biocompatible nanoliposomes as a cytotoxic agent against breast cancer cells. The constituents of LEO were measured by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The physicochemical properties of nanoliposomes and their interaction with LEO were measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and dynamic light scattering (DLS) techniques. Finally, the cytotoxicity effects of nanoliposomes (10, 25, 50, and 100 μg mL−1) against MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and SKBR3 breast cancer cells were evaluated by methyl tetrazolium (MTT) cell viability assay. The results showed that the LEO had major components, including geranial, geraniol, and neral, and produced nanoliposomes confirmed an average diameter of about 53.97 nm. The polyhedral, spherical morphology of nanoliposomes had no significant interaction with the LEO, and about 70% of the initial essential oil was found in the desired nanoliposomes. Releasing the essential oil from nanoliposomes was controlled, and assays showed effective cytotoxicity on three breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and SKBR3) so that at the concentration of 100 μg mL−1 of LEO, the cell death rates was 66%, 64.5%, and 72.7%, respectively (p ≤ 0.05). Also, compared to free LEO, nanoliposomes-loaded LEO showed a higher rate of cell death mediated by apoptosis. Findings introduced a biocompatible nanocarrier for creating effective herbal medicine formulations against breast cancer cells.