Novel flower-shaped albumin particles as controlled-release carriers for drugs to penetrate the round-window membrane

Abstract

Zhan Yu,1,* Min Yu,2,* Zhimin Zhou,3 Zhibao Zhang,3 Bo Du,3 Qingqing Xiong3 1Second Artillery General Hospital, Beijing, 2Department of Cell Biology, Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Ministry of Public Health, College of Basic Medicine, China Medical University, Shenyang, 3Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Material of Tianjin, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equallyto this work Abstract: Controlled-release carriers for local drug delivery have attracted increasing attention for inner-ear treatment recently. In this paper, flower-shaped bovine serum albumin (FBSA) particles were prepared by a modified desolvation method followed by glutaraldehyde or heat denaturation. The size of the FBSA particles varied from 10 µm to 100 µm, and most were 50–80 µm. Heat-denatured FBSA particles have good cytocompatibility with a prolonged survival time for L929 cells. The FBSA particles were utilized as carriers to investigate the release behaviors of the model drug – rhodamine B. Rhodamine B showed a sustained-release effect and penetrated the round-window membrane of guinea pigs. We also confirmed the attachment of FBSA particles onto the round-window membrane by microscopy. The FBSA particles, with good biocompatibility, drug-loading capacity, adhesive capability, and biodegradability, may have potential applications in the field of local drug delivery for inner-ear disease treatment. Keywords: bovine serum albumin (BSA), controlled release, local delivery, round-window membrane