PEG-Coated Large Mesoporous Silicas as Smart Platform for Protein Delivery and Their Use in a Collagen-Based Formulation for 3D Printing
Silica-based mesoporous systems have gained great interest in drug delivery applications due to their excellent biocompatibility and high loading capability. However, these materials face challenges in terms of pore-size limitations since they are characterized by nanopores ranging between 6–8 nm an...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-02-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/4/1718 |
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| author | Federica Banche-Niclot Giorgia Montalbano Sonia Fiorilli Chiara Vitale-Brovarone |
| author_facet | Federica Banche-Niclot Giorgia Montalbano Sonia Fiorilli Chiara Vitale-Brovarone |
| author_sort | Federica Banche-Niclot |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Silica-based mesoporous systems have gained great interest in drug delivery applications due to their excellent biocompatibility and high loading capability. However, these materials face challenges in terms of pore-size limitations since they are characterized by nanopores ranging between 6–8 nm and thus unsuitable to host large molecular weight molecules such as proteins, enzymes and growth factors (GFs). In this work, for an application in the field of bone regeneration, large-pore mesoporous silicas (LPMSs) were developed to vehicle large biomolecules and release them under a pH stimulus. Considering bone remodeling, the proposed pH-triggered mechanism aims to mimic the release of GFs encased in the bone matrix due to bone resorption by osteoclasts (OCs) and the associated pH drop. To this aim, LPMSs were prepared by using 1,3,5-trimethyl benzene (TMB) as a swelling agent and the synthesis solution was hydrothermally treated and the influence of different process temperatures and durations on the resulting mesostructure was investigated. The synthesized particles exhibited a cage-like mesoporous structure with accessible pores of diameter up to 23 nm. LPMSs produced at 140 °C for 24 h showed the best compromise in terms of specific surface area, pores size and shape and hence, were selected for further experiments. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was used as model protein to evaluate the ability of the LPMSs to adsorb and release large biomolecules. After HRP-loading, LPMSs were coated with a pH-responsive polymer, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), allowing the release of the incorporated biomolecules in response to a pH decrease, in an attempt to mimic GFs release in bone under the acidic pH generated by the resorption activity of OCs. The reported results proved that PEG-coated carriers released HRP more quickly in an acidic environment, due to the protonation of PEG at low pH that catalyzes polymer hydrolysis reaction. Our findings indicate that LPMSs could be used as carriers to deliver large biomolecules and prove the effectiveness of PEG as pH-responsive coating. Finally, as proof of concept, a collagen-based suspension was obtained by incorporating PEG-coated LPMS carriers into a type I collagen matrix with the aim of designing a hybrid formulation for 3D-printing of bone scaffolds. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T05:04:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c4c38116b998419ebffab3bfcacee334 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T05:04:24Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-c4c38116b998419ebffab3bfcacee3342023-12-03T12:57:08ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences1661-65961422-00672021-02-01224171810.3390/ijms22041718PEG-Coated Large Mesoporous Silicas as Smart Platform for Protein Delivery and Their Use in a Collagen-Based Formulation for 3D PrintingFederica Banche-Niclot0Giorgia Montalbano1Sonia Fiorilli2Chiara Vitale-Brovarone3Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, 10029 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, 10029 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, 10029 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, 10029 Torino, ItalySilica-based mesoporous systems have gained great interest in drug delivery applications due to their excellent biocompatibility and high loading capability. However, these materials face challenges in terms of pore-size limitations since they are characterized by nanopores ranging between 6–8 nm and thus unsuitable to host large molecular weight molecules such as proteins, enzymes and growth factors (GFs). In this work, for an application in the field of bone regeneration, large-pore mesoporous silicas (LPMSs) were developed to vehicle large biomolecules and release them under a pH stimulus. Considering bone remodeling, the proposed pH-triggered mechanism aims to mimic the release of GFs encased in the bone matrix due to bone resorption by osteoclasts (OCs) and the associated pH drop. To this aim, LPMSs were prepared by using 1,3,5-trimethyl benzene (TMB) as a swelling agent and the synthesis solution was hydrothermally treated and the influence of different process temperatures and durations on the resulting mesostructure was investigated. The synthesized particles exhibited a cage-like mesoporous structure with accessible pores of diameter up to 23 nm. LPMSs produced at 140 °C for 24 h showed the best compromise in terms of specific surface area, pores size and shape and hence, were selected for further experiments. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was used as model protein to evaluate the ability of the LPMSs to adsorb and release large biomolecules. After HRP-loading, LPMSs were coated with a pH-responsive polymer, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), allowing the release of the incorporated biomolecules in response to a pH decrease, in an attempt to mimic GFs release in bone under the acidic pH generated by the resorption activity of OCs. The reported results proved that PEG-coated carriers released HRP more quickly in an acidic environment, due to the protonation of PEG at low pH that catalyzes polymer hydrolysis reaction. Our findings indicate that LPMSs could be used as carriers to deliver large biomolecules and prove the effectiveness of PEG as pH-responsive coating. Finally, as proof of concept, a collagen-based suspension was obtained by incorporating PEG-coated LPMS carriers into a type I collagen matrix with the aim of designing a hybrid formulation for 3D-printing of bone scaffolds.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/4/1718mesoporous silica particleslarge poresgrowth factorpH-triggered releasetype I collagen3D printing |
| spellingShingle | Federica Banche-Niclot Giorgia Montalbano Sonia Fiorilli Chiara Vitale-Brovarone PEG-Coated Large Mesoporous Silicas as Smart Platform for Protein Delivery and Their Use in a Collagen-Based Formulation for 3D Printing International Journal of Molecular Sciences mesoporous silica particles large pores growth factor pH-triggered release type I collagen 3D printing |
| title | PEG-Coated Large Mesoporous Silicas as Smart Platform for Protein Delivery and Their Use in a Collagen-Based Formulation for 3D Printing |
| title_full | PEG-Coated Large Mesoporous Silicas as Smart Platform for Protein Delivery and Their Use in a Collagen-Based Formulation for 3D Printing |
| title_fullStr | PEG-Coated Large Mesoporous Silicas as Smart Platform for Protein Delivery and Their Use in a Collagen-Based Formulation for 3D Printing |
| title_full_unstemmed | PEG-Coated Large Mesoporous Silicas as Smart Platform for Protein Delivery and Their Use in a Collagen-Based Formulation for 3D Printing |
| title_short | PEG-Coated Large Mesoporous Silicas as Smart Platform for Protein Delivery and Their Use in a Collagen-Based Formulation for 3D Printing |
| title_sort | peg coated large mesoporous silicas as smart platform for protein delivery and their use in a collagen based formulation for 3d printing |
| topic | mesoporous silica particles large pores growth factor pH-triggered release type I collagen 3D printing |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/4/1718 |
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