Hollow Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Co-Delivery of Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Molecules: Mechanism of Drug Loading and Release Publisher



Kabiri F¹ ; Mirfakhraee S¹ ; Ardakani YH¹ ; Dinarvand R^{1, 2}
Source: Journal of Nanoparticle Research Published:2021

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the loading capacity and release profiles of curcumin (CUR), as a hydrophobic drug molecule, and doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX), as a hydrophilic drug molecule, into hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSNs) through a co-delivery system. The drug loading and release studies were conducted and analyzed by HPLC–UV. The hydrodynamic size and zeta potential of HMSNs were 206.8 nm and − 28.8 mV respectively. Drug loadings of DOX into HMSN-DOX NPs and HMSN-DOX-CUR NPs were 37.51 ± 2.07% and 18.57 ± 6.22% respectively, and the loading capacities of CUR in HMSN-CUR NPs and HMSN-DOX-CUR NPs were 61.57 ± 2.82% and 43.73 ± 8.3% respectively. The release study of DOX in phosphate buffer saline (PBS, pH = 7.4) showed that 10.36 ± 0.7% and 13.06 ± 0.26% of loaded DOX in HMSN-DOX NPs and HMSN-DOX-CUR NPs were released after 24 h, respectively, whereas 92.04 ± 3.89% and 95.53 ± 0.29% of the loaded CUR in HMSN-CUR NPs and HMSN-DOX-CUR NPs were released after 6 h in albumin 3%, pH = 7.4, respectively. The result of this study suggests that HMSNs can be used as a suitable candidate system for the delivery of hydrophilic drugs in cancer therapies, thanks to their ability to prevent premature drug release from NPs. On the other hand, the release study of CUR as a hydrophobic drug model suggests that the considered NPs may not be a suitable candidate for the delivery of such drugs in cancer therapies due to the rapid release of compounds in a simulated plasma model. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.