Soft Nanohydrogels Based on Laponite Nanodiscs: A Versatile Drug Delivery Platform for Theranostics and Drug Cocktails

Abstract

A new nanohydrogel drug delivery platform based on Laponite nanodiscs, polyacrylate, and sodium phosphate salts is described. The hybrid nanohydrogel is tailored to obtain soft and flexible nanohydrogels with G' around 3 kPa, which has been proposed as the ideal stiffness for drug delivery applications. In vitro studies demonstrate that the new nanohydrogels are biocompatible, biodegradable, nonswellable, pH-responsive, and noncytotoxic and are able to deliver antineoplastic drugs into cancer cells. The IC of nanohydrogels containing cisplatin, 4-fluorouracil, and cyclophosphamide is significantly lower than the IC of the free drugs. In vivo experiments suggest that the new nanomaterials are biocompatible and do not accumulate in crucial organs. The simple formulation procedure enables encapsulation of virtually any water-soluble molecule, without the need for chemical modification of the guests. These nanohydrogels are a versatile platform that enables the simultaneous encapsulation of several cancer drugs, yielding an efficient drug cocktail delivery system, which for instance presents a positive synergistic effect against MCF-7 cells.

Laponite‐Based Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery

“…However, some fractions can be adsorbed on the surface of the particle. [51] As an exfoliated clay mineral, a large surface area and the repulsive electrostatic forces between negatively charged interlayers create sufficient space to encapsulate drug molecules. [52] Drug intercalation leads to an increase in layer spacing (d-spacing).…”

“…24 and 48 h compared with the nanohydrogels containing each drug. [51] An important parameter pertaining to synergistic drug combinations is their release profiles, particularly their sequential release. An interesting study on the co-delivery and the sequential release of two anticancer agents was conducted by Zheng et al DOX and MTX were loaded onto Laponite nanodisks with high loading efficiency of ≈85% and ≈80%, respectively.…”

Cell-loaded injectable gelatin/alginate/LAPONITE® nanocomposite hydrogel promotes bone healing in a critical-size rat calvarial defect model

“…Our novel nanocomposite hydrogel system can be utilized not only as stem cells carriers for non-load-bearing injury site such as cranial defects, but also synthetic biological carriers for bioactive molecules/drugs, or currently available tissue gras for regenerative medicine, as LAP was initially applied by several researchers in drug and/or bio-activator delivery systems. For example, Becher et al 42 recently described a new drug delivery platform based on LAP nanodiscs. In our studies, we also have avoided covalent modication of gelatin and only used Ca 2+ for crosslinking in order to retain the natural affinity toward proteins and the high activity of the nanocomposite.…”

Recent advancements in two‐dimensional nanomaterials for drug delivery

“…Moreover, 2D silicene also arouses wide interests in drug delivery application because of its high biocompatibility and photothermal capacity (H. Lin et al, ). In another work by Becher, a drug delivery platform based on laponite nanodiscs was synthesis in the form of nanohydrogel, which served as a container for multiple cancer drugs encapsulation (Becher et al, , Figure f). Zhang et al developed a 2D Zn‐based metal–organic frameworks for drug delivery (Figure g), which exhibited an effective loading towards 5‐Fluorouracil with a capacity of 11.4 wt% (Y. Zhang & Wang, ).…”