Dinar Ayu Sekar Pawening, Andri Hardiansyah, Ika Oktavia Wulandari, Chen-Ying Su, Yu-Wei Cheng, Chih-Yu Kuo, Sri Rahayu, Chian-Hui Lai, Łukasz Pawłowski, Ting-Yu Liu
Cancer therapy requires advanced drug delivery systems capable of responding to complex tumor microenvironments through multiple environmental stimuli. In this study, a nanocarrier composed of chitosan (CS), Pluronic F127 (PF127), and silver nanoparticles (AgNP) was developed as a dual stimuli-responsive platform. AgNP were synthesized via a green approach using Ulva lactuca extract, while ibuprofen (IB) was employed as a model drug to evaluate the encapsulation and release performance of the nanocarrier. The structural and physicochemical properties of the system were characterized using FTIR, XRD, and DLS analyses. The nanocarrier exhibited an encapsulation efficiency of 76.6% and a drug loading content of 21.9%. In vitro release studies performed under different temperature (27 and 37°C) and pH (4 and 7) conditions demonstrated dual stimuli-responsive release behavior. At pH 7, cumulative drug release increased from 43.3% at 27°C to 57.7% at 37°C, while release under acidic conditions remained substantially lower. Drug release kinetics were best described by the Higuchi model, indicating that diffusion was the predominant release mechanism. The biological response of the nanocomposite was evaluated using T47D breast cancer cells. CCK-8 and apoptosis assays revealed concentration- and time-dependent cytotoxic effects, with the highest apoptotic cell population observed after 48 h of incubation. Overall, the results demonstrate that the Ag/CS/PF127 nanocomposite exhibits dual pH- and thermo-responsive release characteristics and may serve as a promising platform for stimuli-responsive drug delivery applications. © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Brawijaya University, Malang, 65145, Indonesia; Research Center for Nanotechnology Systems, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Tangerang Selatan, 15314, Indonesia; High-Value Biomaterials Research and Commercialization Center, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Chemical Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City, 24301, Taiwan; Department of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology, National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan; Research Center for Fuel Technology, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Tangerang Selatan, 15314, Indonesia; Graduate Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Biomaterials Technology, Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland; Department of Materials Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City, 24301, Taiwan; R&D Center of Biochemical Engineering Technology, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City, 243303, Taiwan; Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Yuan Ze University, Taoyuan City, 32003, Taiwan; College of Chemical Engineering and Center for Sustainability and Energy Technologies, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, 33302, Taiwan
