Preparation of Spherical Cellulose Nanoparticles from Recycled Waste Cotton for Anticancer Drug Delivery

Using natural waste resources as a starting material for the preparation of cellulose nanoparticles is a field of interest for novel pharmaceutical applications. This study aims to introduce cellulose nanoparticles for Doxorubicin (DOX) delivery to tumor cells. Cellulose nanocrystals were first produced from waste cotton by hydrochloric acid (1 M) hydrolysis, and then spherical cellulose nanoparticles were prepared by microemulsion method. The prepared particles were spherical with 300 nm in size, and the zeta potential was −12.5 mV. The drug entrapment efficiency was ∼99 % (w/w). DOX loaded particles exhibited a biphasic release pattern at pH 7.4 phosphate buffer without initial burst effect. Release experiments demonstrated that DOX release was up to 34 days (97 %). In vitro cytotoxicity assay on human A549 (human lung adenocarcinoma) cell line was performed by MTT assay. The results show that prepared particles are effective on cancer cells. It is important in terms of economic and environmental problems that the material prepared for use in cancer drug release presented here is obtained from the waste cotton. Cellulose nanocrystals were produced from waste cotton through HCl hydrolysis and spherical cellulose nanoparticles were prepared from these nanocrystals. Dox was entrapped into the nanoparticles highly efficiently and released up to 34 days with no burst release. Cytotoxicity study results showed that cellulose nanoparticles are effective on human A549 cells. Prepared nanoparticles could be useful as chemotherapeutic agent delivery carriers as low‐cost materials in pharmaceutical research.