Cytotoxicity of PMMA-based nanoparticles synthesized adopting SDS and Tween 80

Summary: in this work the cytotoxicity of PMMA-based nanoparticles against mouse mammary cancer cells (4T1) has been investigated. NPs have been synthesized using either monomer starved semi-batch emulsion polymerization (MSSEP) or standard batch emulsion polymerization (BEP) processes adopting potassium persulfate (KPS) as initiator and two different emulsifiers: sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and Tween 80. The toxicity of NPs produced using SDS has been confirmed in in vitro experiments while it has been found that NPs stabilized with Tween 80 show a good biocompatibility. Moreover, the absence of toxicity of NPs in which the SDS is substituted with Tween 80 adopting ion exchange resins (IER) has been proved. Finally the biocompatibility of the sulfate chain end groups coming from the adopted initiator has been assessed.