In this study, spherical superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) with mean diameter of 6 nm were prepared by a reduction-precipitation method. The surface of SPION were coated with poly(acrylic acid) 5000 (PAA-5000) and followed by loading with the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX). The drug loading efficiency was (14.64±0.29). In vitro drug release studies were realized for 8 h at two different pH values 4.2 and 7.4. The drug release rate at pH 4.2 (100 % DOX released in 2 h) was much faster than that at pH 7.4 (≈78 % DOX released in 8 h). These results indicate that these DOX-carrier nanoparticles have a high drug loading capacity and favourable release property for magnetic drug targeting. The drug release kinetics followed the Korsmeyer-Peppas model at pH 4.2, while at pH 7.4 the zero order model was fitted the best. The drug release mechanism followed super-case II transport in acidic and basic medium. The samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, FTIR, and UV-Vis.

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