Simultaneous Release of Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Drugs by a pH-sensitive Bio-carrier Based on Layered Double Hydroxides Decorated with l-serine-chitosan

Recently, the development of pH-responsive carriers has emerged as a promising area of research in cancer treatment. For these reasons, the purpose of the present work is to investigate layered double hydroxides decorated with l-serine-chitosan (LDH-DOX-CUR/Ser-CS) for the targeted release of doxorubicin (DOX, hydrophilic) and curcumin (CUR, hydrophobic) drugs to HepG2 liver cancer cells. Different methods such as FT-IR, FE-SEM, Zeta potential, EDX, and XRD analysis were employed to validate the structural properties of the developed bio-carriers. The encapsulation efficiencies for DOX and CUR were ∼96.8% and ∼83.6%, respectively. The drug release evaluation highlighted the pH-sensitive and controlled release capabilities of the LDH-DOX-CUR/Ser-CS bio-carriers to acidic tumor microenvironments. Both drugs’ release mechanisms also showed compliance with the Fickian diffusion from the Korsmeyer-Peppas model. Additionally, the bioavailability of the designed LDH against both HepG2 (liver cancer cell line) and L929 (normal liver cell line) cells was proved by cytotoxicity test. On the other hand, the LDH-DOX-CUR/Ser-CS bio-carriers exhibited higher cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells, which is caused by the controlled and targeted delivery of both drugs to these cells. The antibacterial, antioxidant, and blood compatibility properties of the engineered bio-carriers were confirmed by relevant in vitro techniques. In general, the results of this study showed that engineered bio-carriers have the necessary potential and efficiency for use as drug delivery bio-carriers in the biomedical field.

Graphical Abstract