Browsing by Author "Cortez-Jugo, Christina"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Engineering Biocoatings To Prolong Drug Release from Supraparticles
    (American Chemical Society, 2019-08) Ma, Yutian; Cortez-Jugo, Christina; Li, Jianhua; Lin, Zhixing; Richardson, Rachael; Han, Yiyuan; Zhou, Jiajing; Björnmalm, Mattias; Feeney, Orlagh; Zhong, Qi-Zhi; Porter, Christopher; Wise, Andrew; Caruso, Frank
    Supraparticles (SPs) assembled from smaller colloidal nanoparticles can serve as depots of therapeutic compounds and are of interest for long-term, sustained drug release in biomedical applications. However, a key challenge to achieving temporal control of drug release from SPs is the occurrence of an initial rapid release of the loaded drug (i.e., "burst" release) that limits sustained release and potentially causes burst release-associated drug toxicity. Herein, a biocoating strategy is presented for silica-SPs (Si-SPs) to reduce the extent of burst release of the loaded model protein lysozyme. Specifically, Si-SPs were coated with a fibrin film, formed by enzymatic conversion of fibrinogen into fibrin. The fibrin-coated Si-SPs, (F)Si-SPs, which could be loaded with 7.9 +/- 0.9 mug of lysozyme per SP, released >60% of cargo protein over a considerably longer period of time of >20 days when compared with the uncoated Si-SPs that released the same amount of the cargo protein, however, within the first 3 days. Neurotrophins that support the survival and differentiation of neurons could also be loaded at approximately 7.3 mug per SP, with fibrin coating also delaying neurotrophin release (only 10% of cargo released over 21 days compared with 60% from Si-SPs). In addition, the effects of incorporating a hydrogel-based system for surgical delivery and the opportunity to control drug release kinetics were investigated-an alginate-based hydrogel scaffold was used to encapsulate (F)Si-SPs. The introduction of the hydrogel further extended the initial release of the encapsulated lysozyme to approximately 40 days (for the same amount of cargo released). The results demonstrate the increasing versatility of the SP drug delivery platform, combining large loading capacity with sustained drug release, that is tailorable using different modes of controlled delivery approaches.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Gel-Mediated Electrospray Assembly of Silica Supraparticles for Sustained Drug Delivery
    (ACS Publications, 2018-09) Ma, Yutian; Björnmalm, Mattias; Wise, Andrew; Cortez-Jugo, Christina; Revalor, Eve; Ju, Yi; Feeney, Orlagh; Richardson, Rachael; Hanssen, Eric; Shepherd, Robert; Porter, Christopher; Caruso, Frank
    Supraparticles (SPs) composed of smaller colloidal particles provide a platform for the long-term, controlled release of therapeutics in biomedical applications. However, current synthesis methods used to achieve high drug loading and those involving biocompatible materials are often tedious and low throughput, thereby limiting the translation of SPs to diverse applications. Herein, we present a simple, effective, and automatable alginate-mediated electrospray technique for the assembly of robust spherical silica SPs (Si-SPs) for long-term (>4 months) drug delivery. The Si-SPs are composed of either porous or nonporous primary Si particles within a decomposable alginate matrix. The size and shape of the Si-SPs can be tailored by controlling the concentrations of alginate and silica primary particles used and key electrospraying parameters, such as flow rate, voltage, and collector distance. Furthermore, the performance (including drug loading kinetics, loading capacity, loading efficiency, and drug release) of the Si-SPs can be tuned by changing the porosity of the primary particles and through the retention or removal (via calcination) of the alginate matrix. The structure and morphology of the Si-SPs were characterized by electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, N2 adsorption-desorption analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The cytotoxicity and degradability of the Si-SPs were also examined. Drug loading kinetics and loading capacity for six different types of Si-SPs, using a model protein drug (fluorescently labeled lysozyme), demonstrate that Si-SPs prepared from primary silica particles with large pores can load significant amounts of lysozyme (∼10 μg per SP) and exhibit sustained, long-term release of more than 150 days. Our experiments show that Si-SPs can be produced through a gel-mediated electrospray technique that is robust and automatable (important for clinical translation and commercialization) and that they present a promising platform for long-term drug delivery.