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Fabrication of silk fibroin nanoparticles for controlled drug delivery

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Abstract

A novel solution-enhanced dispersion by supercritical CO2 (SEDS) was employed to prepare silk fibroin (SF) nanoparticles. The resulting SF nanoparticles exhibited a good spherical shape, a smooth surface, and a narrow particle size distribution with a mean particle diameter of about 50 nm. The results of X-ray powder diffraction, thermo gravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis of the SF nanoparticles before and after ethanol treatment indicated conformation transition of SF nanoparticles from random coil to β-sheet form and thus water insolubility. The MTS assay also suggested that the SF nanoparticles after ethanol treatment imposed no toxicity. A non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, indomethacin (IDMC), was chosen as the model drug and was encapsulated in SF nanoparticles by the SEDS process. The resulting IDMC–SF nanoparticles, after ethanol treatment, possessed a theoretical average drug load of 20%, an actual drug load of 2.05%, and an encapsulation efficiency of 10.23%. In vitro IDMC release from the IDMC–SF nanoparticles after ethanol treatment showed a significantly sustained release over 2 days. These studies of SF nanoparticles indicated the suitability of the SF nanoparticles prepared by the SEDS process as a biocompatible carrier to deliver drugs and also the feasibility of using the SEDS process to reach the goal of co-precipitation of drug and SF as composite nanoparticles for controlled drug delivery.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission and Hong Kong Research Institute of Textile and Apparel for providing funding support to this research through projects ITP/001/07TP, ITP/031/08TP, the Hong Kong Research Grant Council and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University through projects PolyU5242/09E, G-YX1M, J-BB6Q and GU942. Also, we would like to thank the support of Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology through the Guangdong-Hong Kong International Textile Bioengineering Joint Research Center with project code 2011B050300023, as well as the sponsorship from Hong Kong Jockey Club Sports Medicine and Health Science Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Zheng Zhao, Aizheng Chen, Yi Li, Junyan Hu, Xuan Liu, Jiashen Li, Yu Zhang, Gang Li & Zijian Zheng

  2. College of Chemical Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen, 361021, Fujian, China

    Aizheng Chen

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  1. Zheng Zhao
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  2. Aizheng Chen
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  3. Yi Li
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  7. Yu Zhang
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Correspondence to Yi Li.

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Zhao, Z., Chen, A., Li, Y. et al. Fabrication of silk fibroin nanoparticles for controlled drug delivery. J Nanopart Res 14, 736 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-012-0736-5

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