Application of layered double hydroxides as material for drug delivery

Abstract

Layered double hydroxide (LDH) is widely known as anionic clay, host-guest material and anion-exchanger. LDH is a class of nanomaterials that have attracted considerable attention for their potential utility as material for drug and biomolecule delivery. In this study, the intercalation behavior of anticancer drug (5-fluorouracil: 5-FU), the synthesis of 5-FU/Mg-Al LDH and peptide modified 5-FU/LDH (peptide/5-FU/LDH) have been investigated. Moreover, the cytotoxicity assay of the both LDHs for mammalian cells has also been studied. The 5-FU/LDH was characterized by various techniques such as XRD and FT-IR that demonstrated the intercalation of 5-FU into the LDH by using coprecipitation and ion exchange methods. Then, the surface of the 5-FU/LDH was modified with collagen and soy bean peptides. After the modification, the peptide/5-FU/LDH maintained its original LDH structure. The results of cytotoxicity assay for mammalian cells showed that the 5-FU/LDH and the peptide/5-FU/LDH have 1.9 and 7.7 times better drug efficacy than naked 5-FU. The peptide/5-FU/LDH exhibited a quick cytotoxic effect compared with the 5-FU/LDH. The present results suggest that LDH and the peptide modified LDH have the great potential of the materials for drug delivery.