L-Tyrosine-loaded nanoparticles increase the antitumoral activity of direct electric current in a metastatic melanoma cell model

Vânia Emerich Bucco de Campos¹, Cesar Augusto Antunes Teixeira¹, Venicio Feo da Veiga², Eduardo Ricci Júnior¹, Carla Holandino^1
1Departamento de Medicamentos, Faculdade de Farmácia, ²Instituto de Microbiologia Professor Paulo de Góes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract: Inhibition of tumor growth induced by treatment with direct electric current (DC) has been reported in several models. One of the mechanisms responsible for the antitumoral activity of DC is the generation of oxidative species, known as chloramines. With the aim of increasing chloramine production in the electrolytic medium and optimizing the antitumoral effects of DC, poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL) nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with the amino acid tyrosine were obtained. The physical–chemical characterization showed that the NPs presented size in nanometric range and monomodal distribution. A slightly negative electrokinetic potential was also found in both blank NPs and L-tyrosine-loaded PCL NPs. The yield of the loading process was approximately 50%. Within 3 h of dissolution assay, a burst release of about 80% L-tyrosine was obtained. The in vitro cytotoxicity of DC was significantly increased when associated with L-tyrosine-loaded NPs, using a murine multidrug-resistant melanoma cell line model. This study showed that the use of the combination of nanotechnology and DC has a promising antineoplastic potential and opens a new perspective in cancer therapy.

Keywords: direct electric current, nanotechnology, cancer therapy, L-tyrosine, B16F10 cells