Quercetin conjugated superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles for in-vitro analysis of breast cancer cell lines for chemotherapy applications

[Display omitted] •Quercetin is conjugated on dextran coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles by nanoprecipitation method.•Urea in the process controls the shape, size and agglomeration.•Drug releasing was investigated in the pH of 7.4 and 5.5.•The in-vitro anticancer activity in breast cancer cell line was investigated.•The prepared drug conjugated nanoparticles will be used for future biomedical applications. The magnetic nanoparticles attract increasing interest due to their opportunities in cancer therapy and used as drug carriers for several other diseases. The present study investigates the quercetin conjugated superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles for in-vitro analysis of breast cancer cell lines for chemotherapy. A simple precipitation method was used to prepare the dextran coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles and the anticancer flavonoid quercetin was conjugated on the surface via carboxylic/amine group using nanoprecipitation method. The structural, morphological and the magnetic properties of the prepared materials were studied by using X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Fourier transformed infer-red spectrometer (FTIR), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiahiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium) assay of dextran coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles did not exhibit notable toxicity against MCF7 cells, whereas the cytotoxicity of quercetin conjugated Fe3O4 nanoparticles increased significantly in comparison with pure quercetin. The incubation of MCF-7 cells with quercetin conjugated Fe3O4 nanoparticles (QCMNPs) shows significant changes in cellular morphology observed through fluorescent microscopy. The results validate the prepared quercetin conjugated Fe3O4 nanoparticles are promising anticancer agents for targeted drug delivery.