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

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.

Resveratrol loaded glycyrrhizic acid-conjugated human serum albumin nanoparticles for tail vein injection II: pharmacokinetics, tissue distribution and bioavailability

“…Human serum albumin exists in a large number of human blood, has excellent water solubility and safety, and has been widely used as a multifunctional drug delivery carrier (Deng et al, 2018;Hoonjan et al, 2018). In addition, the functional groups such as carboxyl and amino groups on the surface of albumin are beneficial to the surface functionalization of albumin nanoparticles (Mo et al, 2007;Yu et al, 2014). Drugs that use human serum albumin as a carrier can enhance the dissolution rate and saturation solubility of drugs by intravenous injection.…”

Animal model studies yield translational solutions for cochlear drug delivery

“…Another approach involves utilization of albumin particles (10-100um) loaded with Rhodamine B, in an attempt to provide higher surface area for drug binding, due to the unique, flower shape of these particles (Yu et al 2014). A limitation of Yu’s investigation was that although they reported fluorescence of albumin particles in the middle ear of guinea pigs, they did not look at concentration in the cochlea, so it is not clear if the Rhodamine was being released into the cochlea or not.…”