Iron-Doped Birch Leaf-Derived Biopolymer-Based Zinc Oxide Nanocomposites: A Multifunctional Platform for Anticancer Activity and Imaging Applications against MCF-7 Cells
Keywords:
Iron-doped zinc oxide, Biopolymer-based nanocomposites, Birch leaf extract, MCF-7 breast cancer cells, Theranostics, Reactive oxygen species (ROS), Apoptosis, MRI contrast agent, X-ray imaging, CT imaging, Multifunctional platform.Abstract
Iron-doped zinc oxide nanocomposites (Fe-ZnO NCs), which are made from biopolymers derived from birch leaves, are presented in this work as a multipurpose platform for cancer theranostics that targets MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Successful iron incorporation was confirmed by characterization techniques (FTIR, XRD, HRTEM, HRSEM, EDX, and BET), which improved the surface, morphological, and structural characteristics. With a dose-dependent decrease in MCF-7 cell viability, Fe-ZnO nanocomposites demonstrated significant anticancer effects. At 200 µg/mL, viability was almost completely eradicated, dropping to about 10% from 20% for undoped ZnO. Significant disruption of the mitochondrial membrane potential and elevated ROS levels (roughly 1.5 times higher than undoped ZnO) further promoted apoptosis. Imaging studies demonstrated increased radiopacity in X-ray imaging (80 AU versus 10 AU for undoped ZnO), higher Hounsfield Units in CT imaging (450 HU versus 300 HU), and enhanced T2 relaxivity, reaching ~150 s⁻¹ mM⁻¹ at 10 mg/mL (compared to ~60 s⁻¹ mM⁻¹ for undoped ZnO). These results highlight Fe-ZnO NCs theranostic properties and their potential for in vivo cancer treatment and diagnosis.
