International Journal of Nanomedicine (Mar 2009)
Tunable drug loading and release from polypeptide multilayer nanofilms
Abstract
Bingbing Jiang1, Bingyun Li1,2,31Biomaterials, Bioengineering and Nanotechnology Laboratory, Department of Orthopaedics, School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA; 2WVNano Initiative, WV, USA; 3Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA Abstract: Polypeptide multilayer nanofilms were prepared using electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly nanotechnology. Small charged drug molecules (eg, cefazolin, gentamicin, and methylene blue) were loaded in polypeptide multilayer nanofilms. Their loading and release were found to be pH-dependent and could also be controlled by changing the number of film layers and drug incubation time, and applying heat-treatment after film formation. Antibiotic-loaded polypeptide multilayer nanofilms showed controllable antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus. The developed biodegradable polypeptide multilayer nanofilms are capable of loading both positively- and negatively-charged drug molecules and promise to serve as drug delivery systems on biomedical devices for preventing biomedical device-associated infection, which is a significant clinical complication for both civilian and military patients.Keywords: polypeptide, self-assembly, polyelectrolyte multilayer, nanofilm, charged molecule, tunable release