Silk Fibroin Hydrogel Reinforced With Magnetic Nanoparticles as an Intelligent Drug Delivery System for Sustained Drug Release

Abstract

Due to the well-known biocompatibility, tunable biodegradability, and mechanical properties, silk fibroin hydrogel is an exciting material for localized drug delivery systems to decrease the therapy cost, decrease the negative side effects, and increase the efficiency of chemotherapy. However, the lack of remote stimuli response and active drug release behavior has yet to be analyzed comparatively. In this study, we developed magnetic silk fibroin (SF) hydrogel samples through the facile blending method, loaded with doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) and incorporated with different concentrations of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs), to investigate the presumable ability of controlled and sustained drug release under the various external magnetic field (EMF). The morphology and rheological properties of SF hydrogel and magnetic SF hydrogel were compared through FESEM images and rheometer analysis. Here, we demonstrated that adding magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) into SFH decreased the complex viscosity and provided a denser porosity with a bigger pore size matrix structure, which allowed the drug to be released faster in the absence of an EMF. Release kinetic studies show that magnetic SF hydrogel could achieve controlled release of DOX in the presence of an EMF. Furthermore, the drug release from magnetic SF hydrogel decreased in the presence of a static magnetic field (SMF) and an alternating magnetic field (AMF), and the release rate decreased even more with the higher MNPs concentration and magnetic field strength. Subsequently, Wilms’ tumor and human fibroblast cells were cultured with almost the same concentration of DOX released in different periods, and cell viability was investigated using MTT assay. MTT results indicated that the Wilms’ tumor cells were more resistant to DOX than the human fibroblasts, and the IC50 values were calculated at 1.82 ± 0.001 and 2.73 ± 0.004 (μg/ml) for human fibroblasts and Wilms’ tumor cells, respectively. Wilms’ tumor cells showed drug resistance in a higher DOX concentration, indicating the importance of controlled drug delivery. These findings suggest that the developed magnetic SFH loaded with DOX holds excellent potential for intelligent drug delivery systems with noninvasive injection and remotely controlled abilities.

Recent advances in responsive hydrogels for diabetic wound healing

“…Recently, smart hydrogels with stimulus-responsive functions have attracted considerable attention. Briefly, stimulus-responsive hydrogels can respond to internal physiological signals (i.e., temperature [ 28 , 29 ], pH [ 30 , 31 ], redox [ 32 , 33 ], glucose [ 34 , 35 ], or enzymes [ 36 , 37 ]), external stimuli (i.e., temperature [ 38 , 39 ], magnetic field [ 40 , 41 ], pressure [ 42 , 43 ], reactive oxygen species (ROS) [ 44 , 45 ], light [ 46 , 47 ] and electric field [ 48 , 49 ]) or a combination of the above, which can reversibly or irreversibly change the physical properties or chemical structure ( Fig. 2 ).…”

Spatiotemporally Actuated Hydrogel by Magnetic Swarm Nanorobotics

“…This result indicated the existence of the “stimulus-response” mechanism for the system to the magnetic field. We compared this result with other work − (Supporting Table S2), and the results showed the importance of ordered assembly for DOX release. In the DOX release curve (Figure e), the slope indicated the release rate of DOX.…”

Immunogenic Potential and Therapeutic Efficacy of Multi‐Epitope Encapsulated Silk Fibroin Nanoparticles against Pseudomonas aeruginosa‐Mediated Urinary Tract Infections

“…The adjuvant properties and sustained release of encapsulated agents make SFNPs promising vaccine adjuvants. [12,13] The size, shape, and surface charge of nanoparticles can impact their interaction with immune cells. [21,22] It has been established that DCs prefer to uptake small-sized particles (20-200 nm), while macrophages take up larger particles.…”