Multiwalled carbon nanotubes for drug delivery: Efficiency related to length and incubation time

Publication date: 15 April 2017 Source:International Journal of Pharmaceutics, Volume 521, Issues 1–2 Author(s): Niccolò Sciortino, Stefano Fedeli, Paolo Paoli, Alberto Brandi, Paola Chiarugi, Mirko Severi, Stefano Cicchi Batches of oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes differing in length were adopted to prepare two drug delivery systems (DDS) loaded with doxorubicin. The different internalization of the two batches, verified by atomic emission spectroscopy onto cell lysates, was also confirmed by the different toxicity of the same DDS loaded with doxorubicin. In vitro experiments evidenced, after 48h of incubation, the superior efficacy of the shortest nanotubes. However, upon prolonging the incubation time up to 72h the difference in efficiency was minimized due to the spontaneous release of doxorubicin by the non-internalized long nanotubes. Graphical abstract
Source: International Journal of Pharmaceutics - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research