Figure 1.

Morphological structure, size measurements, and schematic representation of preparation steps.

Notes: TEM image of nanoparticles (A), SEM image of nanoparticles (B), NTA analysis of particle size (C, D, E, F, G), and schematic representation of the synthesis method for every stage (H).First, the nanoparticles were synthesized, then modified with amino groups (-NH₂) via a post-synthesis method. Next, prodrugs were loaded onto modified nanoparticles to obtain nanoformulations. For combined nanoformulations, we used MSNs-NH₂-SH as the starting material to load quercetin, and the resulting nanoformulation was MSNs-NH₂-SH-QR1.

Abbreviations: TEM, transmission electron microscopy; SEM, scanning electron microscopy; MSNs, mesoporous silica nanoparticles; MSNs-NH₂, MSNs modified amino groups; MSNs-NH₂-SH, MSNs-NH₂ loaded SH; MSNs-NH₂-QR, MSNs-NH₂ loaded QR; MSNs-NH₂-SH-QR1, MSNs-NH₂ loaded SH and QR; SH, shikimic acid; QR, quercetin.