Kappa carrageenan/PEG-CuO nanoparticles as a multifunctional nanoplatform: digital colorimetric biosensor and anticancer drug nanocarrier

The development of green multifunctional nanoformulation has been given great attention with unique anticancer activity and ultra-sensitive sensing properties in biomedical applications. This study investigated the smartphone-integrated colorimetric dopamine sensing platform and the anticancer activity of Kappa Carrageenan/PEG-CuO nanoparticles (κCA/PEG-CuO NPs). The characterization of the prepared κCA/PEG-CuO NPs was conducted using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), zeta-potential, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) techniques. The surface characterization revealed that the obtained NPs had a spherical surface in the particle-size range of 5–10 nm. With a high coefficient of correlation (R2 = 0.982), the digital colorimetric κCA/PEG-CuO NPs-based biosensor detected dopamine in a wide concentration range of 0.1–100 µM and a low limit of detection (LOD) of 504 nM in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) (pH 7.4). In addition, the cytotoxicity of the prepared κCA/PEG-CuO NPs in living cells (HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma), MIA PaCa-2 pancreatic cancer cells, and HUVEC (human umbilical vein endothelial cells) was investigated, which proved that κCA/PEG-CuO NPs exhibited high anticancer activity against MIA PaCa-2 pancreatic cancer cells. In conclusion, experimental results showed that multifunctional κCA/PEG-CuO NPs are both a promising biosensor for dopamine detection and an effective nanocarrier for pancreatic cancer therapy. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature.