Porous Crystalline Material ZIF-8 as an Efficient Accelerator to Amplify the Sonodynamic Activity of Ciprofloxacin and Curcumin

In this study, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-8 (ZIF-8) was loaded separately with ciprofloxacin (CIP@ZIF-8) and curcumin (CUR@ZIF-8), creating a promising drug delivery system. Various techniques, such as SEM, FTIR, XRD, UV–vis spectroscopy, particle size, and zeta potential measurements, were used to characterize the physicochemical properties of the above two nanocomposites. Their sonodynamic activities were assessed by taking the damage degree of human serum albumin (HSA), which is the most abundant protein in plasma and has multiple important biological functions. Generally, the stronger the sonodynamic activity of the material, the greater the injury to HSA, and the more the fluorescence intensity of HSA decreases. The results confirmed that ZIF-8 could enhance not only the sonodynamic activity of CIP and CUR but also the auxo-action could be heightened to varying degrees with increasing drug concentration, extending ultrasound (US) time, and strengthening US power. Moreover, mechanism experiments found that US combined with ZIF-8 nanocomposites could produce more reactive oxygen species than that of the non-US group. Its production was positively correlated with drug concentration, US time, and US power. To sum up, this study made a significant exploration of ZIF-8 as a good sonosensitizer accelerator and provided a new research idea for the development of more efficient sonosensitizers.