Alginate/magnetic graphite bionanocomposites for drug delivery applications

Oral presentation given at the Scientific Workshop "Biomedical, Health and Bio-related Applications of Hybrid Materials", held in Barcelona (Spain) on June 8-9th, 2015.Bionanocomposites based on the assembly of biopolymers and inorganic solids offer interesting properties for application in biomedicine as drug delivery systems (DDS),1 especially those based on layered double hydroxides (LDH) that can incorporate a large variety of anionic drugs and be further coated with a protective polymeric matrix to reach a better control of the drug release.2,3 In this study, new magnetic bio-hybrid matrices are developed from the assembly of the polysaccharide alginate and magnetic graphite nanoparticles, incorporating ibuprofen (IBU) intercalated in Mg¿Al LDH as third component.4 The resulting magnetic bionanocomposite DDS was processed as beads or films, and evaluated in in vitro release tests with the aim to elucidate the role of interface interactions between the polysaccharide and both the magnetic graphite and the inorganic brucite-like layers. The magnetic graphite nanoparticles provide a protective effect against water uptake, improving the mechanical properties and slowing down the release rate of the drug. In addition, when ibuprofen was incorporated as the LDH¿IBU intercalation compound, the LDH host solid constitutes an extra physical barrier that improves the control on the release rate of the entrapped drug. These bionanocomposite systems could be also stimulated by means of an external magnetic field enhancing the release rate of ibuprofen, which would allow to modulate the dose of released drug when required