The objective of this study is to prepare biodegradable iron oxide nanoparticles with gelatin (GEL) for paclitaxel (PTX) delivery. In detail, Fe3O4 nanoparticles were prepared and then coated them with GEL (Fe3O4@GEL) conjugate by co–precipitation method. Furthermore, the formation of Fe3O4@GEL was demonstrated by Fourier transform infrared (FT–IR) and powder X–ray diffraction (XRD). | Journal of Science and Technology 55 (1B) (2017) 7–12 BIODEGRADABLE GELATIN DECORATED Fe3O4 NANOPARTICLES FOR PACLITAXEL DELIVERY Dai Hai Nguyen Institute of Applied Materials Science, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology 01 TL29, Thanh Loc Ward, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam * Email: nguyendaihai0511@ Received: 30 December 2016; Accepted for publication: 26 February 2017 ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to prepare biodegradable iron oxide nanoparticles with gelatin (GEL) for paclitaxel (PTX) delivery. In detail, Fe3O4 nanoparticles were prepared and then coated them with GEL (Fe3O4@GEL) conjugate by co–precipitation method. Furthermore, the formation of Fe3O4@GEL was demonstrated by Fourier transform infrared (FT–IR) and powder X–ray diffraction (XRD). The superparamagnetic property of Fe3O4@GEL was also showed by hysteresis loop analysis, the saturation magnetization reached –1. In addition, size and morphology of Fe3O4@GEL nanoparticles were determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results indicated that Fe3O4@GEL nanoparticles were spherical shape with average diameter of 10 nm. Especially, PTX was effectively loaded into the coated magnetic nanoparticles, ± % for drug loading efficiency and slowly released up to 5 days. These results suggest that the potential applications of Fe3O4@GEL nanoparticles in the development of stable drug delivery systems for cancer therapy. Keywords: superparamagnetic iron oxide, gelatin, paclitaxel, drug delivery. 1. INTRODUCTION Iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4 and γ–Fe2O3 NPs), one of the most prominent properties of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), has been commonly used in biomedical applications such as in vivo magnetic resonance imagining, magnetic–mediated hyperthermia for cancer treatment and tissue–specific delivery of therapeutic agents [1, 2]. Moreover, if the size of magnetic structure is small enough MNPs may have superparamagnetic properties, becoming
