TY - JOUR

T1 - Starch/Poly(glycerol-adipate) Nanocomposites

T2 - A Novel Oral Drug Delivery Device

AU - Vestri, Ambra

AU - Pearce, Amanda K.

AU - Cavanagh, Robert

AU - Styliari, Ioanna D.

AU - Sanders, Carlos

AU - Couturaud, Benoit

AU - Schenone, Silvia

AU - Taresco, Vincenzo

AU - Jakobsen, Rasmus R.

AU - Howdle, Steven M.

AU - Musumeci, Francesca

AU - Sagnelli, Domenico

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Biocompatible and bio-based materials are an appealing resource for the pharmaceutical industry. Poly(glycerol-adipate) (PGA) is a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer that can be used to produce self-assembled nanoparticles (NPs) able to encapsulate active ingredients, with encouraging perspectives for drug delivery purposes. Starch is a versatile, inexpensive, and abundant polysaccharide that can be effectively applied as a bio-scaffold for other molecules in order to enrich it with new appealing properties. In this work, the combination of PGA NPs and starch films proved to be a suitable biopolymeric matrix carrier for the controlled release preparation of hydrophobic drugs. Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) was used to determine the size of drug-loaded PGA NPs, while the improvement of the apparent drug water solubility was assessed by UV-vis spectroscopy. In vitro biological assays were performed against cancer cell lines and bacteria strains to confirm that drug-loaded PGA NPs maintained the effective activity of the therapeutic agents. Dye-conjugated PGA was then exploited to track the NP release profile during the starch/PGA nanocomposite film digestion, which was assessed using digestion models mimicking physiological conditions. The collected data provide a clear indication of the suitability of our biodegradable carrier system for oral drug delivery.

AB - Biocompatible and bio-based materials are an appealing resource for the pharmaceutical industry. Poly(glycerol-adipate) (PGA) is a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer that can be used to produce self-assembled nanoparticles (NPs) able to encapsulate active ingredients, with encouraging perspectives for drug delivery purposes. Starch is a versatile, inexpensive, and abundant polysaccharide that can be effectively applied as a bio-scaffold for other molecules in order to enrich it with new appealing properties. In this work, the combination of PGA NPs and starch films proved to be a suitable biopolymeric matrix carrier for the controlled release preparation of hydrophobic drugs. Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) was used to determine the size of drug-loaded PGA NPs, while the improvement of the apparent drug water solubility was assessed by UV-vis spectroscopy. In vitro biological assays were performed against cancer cell lines and bacteria strains to confirm that drug-loaded PGA NPs maintained the effective activity of the therapeutic agents. Dye-conjugated PGA was then exploited to track the NP release profile during the starch/PGA nanocomposite film digestion, which was assessed using digestion models mimicking physiological conditions. The collected data provide a clear indication of the suitability of our biodegradable carrier system for oral drug delivery.

KW - Biocompatible

KW - Biomaterial

KW - Drug delivery

KW - Nanocomposites

KW - Nanoparticles

KW - Poly(glycerol-adipate)

KW - Polymer

KW - Starch

U2 - 10.3390/coatings10020125

DO - 10.3390/coatings10020125

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85080899897

VL - 10

JO - Coatings

JF - Coatings

SN - 2079-6412

IS - 2

M1 - 125

ER -