Engineering porous silicon nanostructures as tunable carriers for mitoxantrone dihydrochloride

Optically Active Nanomaterials for Bioimaging and Targeted Therapy

Non-invasive tracking for monitoring the selective delivery and transplantation of biotargeted agents in vivo has been employed as one of the most effective tools in the field of nanomedicine. Different nanoprobes have been developed and applied to bioimaging tissues and the treatment of diseases ranging from inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases to cancer. Herein, we will review the recent advances in the development of optics-responsive nanomaterials, including organic and inorganic nanoparticles, for multimodal bioimaging and targeted therapy. The main focus is placed on nanoprobe fabrication, mechanistic illustrations, and diagnostic, or therapeutical applications. These nanomedicine strategies have promoted a better understanding of the biological events underlying diverse disease etiologies, thereby facilitating diagnosis, illness evaluation, therapeutic effect, and drug discovery.

Bone Morphogenic Protein 2-Loaded Porous Silicon Carriers for Osteoinductive Implants

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are probably the most important growth factors in bone formation and healing. However, the utilization of BMPs in clinical applications is mainly limited due to the protein poor solubility at physiological pH, rapid clearance and relatively short biological half-life. Herein, we develop degradable porous silicon (PSi)-based carriers for sustained delivery of BMP-2. Two different loading approaches are examined, physical adsorption and covalent conjugation, and their effect on the protein loading and release rate is thoroughly studied. The entrapment of the protein within the PSi nanostructures preserved its bioactivity for inducing osteogenic differentiation of rabbit bone marrow mesenchymal stems cells (BM-MSCs). BM-MSCs cultured with the BMP-2 loaded PSi carriers exhibit a relatively high alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. We also demonstrate that exposure of MSCs to empty PSi (no protein) carriers generates some extent of differentiation due to the ability of the carrier's degradation products to induce osteoblast differentiation. Finally, we demonstrate the integration of these promising BMP-2 carriers within a 3D-printed patient-specific implant, constructed of poly(caprolactone) (PCL), as a potential bone graft for critical size bone defects.

Spatially Controlled Surface Modification of Porous Silicon for Sustained Drug Delivery Applications

A new and facile approach to selectively functionalize the internal and external surfaces of porous silicon (pSi) for drug delivery applications is reported. To provide a surface that is suitable for sustained drug release of the hydrophobic cancer chemotherapy drug camptothecin (CPT), the internal surfaces of pSi films were first modified with 1-dodecene. To further modify the external surface of the pSi samples, an interlayer was applied by silanization with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) following air plasma treatment. In addition, copolymers of N-(2-hydroxypropyl) acrylamide (HPAm) and N-benzophenone acrylamide (BPAm) were grafted onto the external pSi surfaces by spin-coating and UV crosslinking. Each modification step was verified using attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, water contact angle (WCA) measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In order to confirm that the air plasma treatment and silanization step only occurred on the top surface of pSi samples, confocal microscopy was employed after fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) conjugation. Drug release studies carried out over 17 h in PBS demonstrated that the modified pSi reservoirs released CPT continuously, while showing excellent stability. Furthermore, protein adsorption and cell attachment studies demonstrated the ability of the graft polymer layer to reduce both significantly. In combination with the biocompatible pSi substrate material, the facile modification strategy described in this study provides access to new multifunctional drug delivery systems (DDS) for applications in cancer therapy.

Big Potential From Silicon-Based Porous Nanomaterials: In Field of Energy Storage and Sensors

Silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) are the promising materials in the various applications due to their unique properties like large surface area, biocompatibility, stability, excellent optical and electrical properties. Surface, optical and electrical properties are highly dependent on particle size, doping of different materials and so on. Porous structures in silicon nanomaterials not only improve the specific surface area, adsorption, and photoluminescence efficiency but also provide numbers of voids as well as the high surface to volume ratio and enhance the adsorption ability. In this review, we focus on the significance of porous silicon/mesoporous silicon nanoparticles (pSiNPs/mSiNPs) in the applications of energy storage, sensors and bioscience. Silicon as anode material in the lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) faces a huge change in volume during charging/discharging which leads to cracking, electrical contact loss and unstable solid electrolyte interphase. To overcome challenges of Si anode in the LIBs, mSiNPs are the promising candidates with different structures and coating of different materials to enhance electrochemical properties. On the basis of optical properties with tunable wavelength, pSiNPs are catching good results in biosensors and gas sensors. The mSiNPs with different structures and modified surfaces are playing an important role in the detection of biomarkers, drug delivery and diagnosis of cancer and tumors.

Synthetic vs Natural: Diatoms Bioderived Porous Materials for the Next Generation of Healthcare Nanodevices

Nanostructured porous materials promise a next generation of innovative devices for healthcare and biomedical applications. The fabrication of such materials generally requires complex synthesis procedures, not always available in laboratories or sustainable in industries, and has adverse environmental impact. Nanosized porous materials can also be obtained from natural resources, which are an attractive alternative approach to man-made fabrication. Biogenic nanoporous silica from diatoms, and diatomaceous earths, constitutes largely available, low-cost reservoir of mesoporous nanodevices that can be engineered for theranostic applications, ranging from subcellular imaging to drug delivery. In this progress report, main experiences on nature-derived nanoparticles with healthcare and biomedical functionalities are reviewed and critically analyzed in search of a new collection of biocompatible porous nanomaterials.

From The Mine to Cancer Therapy: Natural and Biodegradable Theranostic Silicon Nanocarriers from Diatoms for Sustained Delivery of Chemotherapeutics

Drug delivery using synthetic nanoparticles including porous silicon has been extensively used to overcome the limitations of chemotherapy. However, their synthesis has many challenges such as lack of scalability, high cost, and the use of toxic materials with concerning environmental impact. Nanoscale materials obtained from natural resources are an attractive option to address some of these disadvantages. In this paper, a new mesoporous biodegradable silicon nanoparticle (SiNP) drug carrier obtained from natural diatom silica mineral available from the mining industry is presented. Diatom silica structures are mechanically fragmented and converted into SiNPs by simple and scalable magnesiothermic reduction process. Results show that SiNPs have many desirable properties including high surface area, high drug loading capacity, strong luminescence, biodegradability, and no cytotoxicity. The in-vitro release results from SiNPs loaded with anticancer drugs (doxorubicin) demonstrate a pH-dependent and sustained drug release with enhanced cytotoxicity against cancer cells. The cells study using doxorubicin loaded SiNPs shows a significantly enhanced cytotoxicity against cancer cells compared with free drug, suggesting their considerable potential as theranostic nanocarriers for chemotherapy. Their low-cost manufacturing using abundant natural materials and outstanding chemotherapeutic performance has made them as a promising alternative to synthetic nanoparticles for drug delivery applications.

Potential of porous silicon nanoparticles as an emerging platform for cancer theranostics

Currently, nanoscience is a major part of biomedical research, due to material advances that aid the development of new tools and techniques to replace traditional methods. Here we describe the theranostic potential of multifunctional porous silicon nanoparticles to target, image and treat cancer.

Silicon nanostructures for cancer diagnosis and therapy

The emergence of nanotechnology suggests new and exciting opportunities for early diagnosis and therapy of cancer. During the recent years, silicon-based nanomaterials featuring unique properties have received great attention, showing high promise for myriad biological and biomedical applications. In this review, we will particularly summarize latest representative achievements on the development of silicon nanostructures as a powerful platform for cancer early diagnosis and therapy. First, we introduce the silicon nanomaterial-based biosensors for detecting cancer markers (e.g., proteins, tumor-suppressor genes and telomerase activity, among others) with high sensitivity and selectivity under molecular level. Then, we summarize in vitro and in vivo applications of silicon nanostructures as efficient nanoagents for cancer therapy. Finally, we discuss the future perspective of silicon nanostructures for cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Mechanism of erosion of nanostructured porous silicon drug carriers in neoplastic tissues

Nanostructured porous silicon (PSi) is emerging as a promising platform for drug delivery owing to its biocompatibility, degradability and high surface area available for drug loading. The ability to control PSi structure, size and porosity enables programming its in vivo retention, providing tight control over embedded drug release kinetics. In this work, the relationship between the in vitro and in vivo degradation of PSi under (pre)clinically relevant conditions, using breast cancer mouse model, is defined. We show that PSi undergoes enhanced degradation in diseased environment compared with healthy state, owing to the upregulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the tumour vicinity that oxidize the silicon scaffold and catalyse its degradation. We further show that PSi degradation in vitro and in vivo correlates in healthy and diseased states when ROS-free or ROS-containing media are used, respectively. Our work demonstrates that understanding the governing mechanisms associated with specific tissue microenvironment permits predictive material performance.

The degradation of materials used in biological applications has an important bearing on their long term performance. Here, the authors show how porous silicon nanoparticle degradation can be accelerated in vivo through the influence of local tissue pathology, likely influencing drug delivery performance.

Porous silicon for cancer therapy: from fundamental research to the clinic

Porous silicon (PSi) has emerged over the past decade as a promising biomaterial for nanomedicine in general and cancer nanomedicine in particular. PSi offers a unique combination of properties, including large surface area and porous volume, biocompatibility, degradability

Study on Corrosion of Macroporous Silicon in Sodium Hydroxide Solution by Electrochemical Methods and Scanning Electron Microscopy

The fabricated macroporous silicon with a porosity of 26.33% corrosion in NaOH solution was systemically investigated by open circuit potential measurements, linear polarization measurements, potentiodynamic polarization measurements, and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Results show that the potential open circuit and linear polarization resistance decreases with the NaOH concentration increasing. The corrosion potential shifts significantly to more negative potentials and corrosion current density increases with NaOH concentration increasing. Adding ethanol to 1.0 M NaOH can lead to the linear polarization resistance decrease, corrosion potentials shift in the positive direction, and corrosion current density increase. In addition, the scanning electron microscopy images demonstrate that the macroporous silicon samples are seriously damaged by 1.0 M NaOH and 1.0 M NaOH/EtOH (30%).

Porous silicon oxide-PLGA composite microspheres for sustained ocular delivery of daunorubicin

A water-soluble anthracycline antibiotic drug (daunorubicin, DNR) was loaded into oxidized porous silicon (pSiO2) microparticles and then encapsulated with a layer of polymer (poly lactide-co-glycolide, PLGA) to investigate their synergistic effects in control of DNR release. Similarly fabricated PLGA-DNR microspheres without pSiO2, and pSiO2 microparticles without PLGA were used as control particles. The composite microparticles synthesized by a solid-in-oil-in-water emulsion method have mean diameters of 52.33±16.37μm for PLGA-pSiO2_21/40-DNR and the mean diameter of 49.31±8.87μm for PLGA-pSiO2_6/20-DNR. The mean size, 26.00±8μm, of PLGA-DNR was significantly smaller, compared with the other two (P<0.0001). Optical microscopy revealed that PLGA-pSiO2-DNR microspheres contained multiple pSiO2 particles. In vitro release experiments determined that control PLGA-DNR microspheres completely released DNR within 38days and control pSiO2-DNR microparticles (with no PLGA coating) released DNR within 14days, while the PLGA-pSiO2-DNR microspheres released DNR for 74days. Temporal release profiles of DNR from PLGA-pSiO2 composite particles indicated that both PLGA and pSiO2 contribute to the sustained release of the payload. The PLGA-pSiO2 composite displayed a more constant rate of DNR release than the pSiO2 control formulation, and displayed a significantly slower release of DNR than either the PLGA or pSiO2 formulations. We conclude that this system may be useful in managing unwanted ocular proliferation when formulated with antiproliferation compounds such as DNR.

Nanostructured porous silicon-mediated drug delivery

INTRODUCTION

The particular properties of nanostructured porous silicon (nanoPS) make it an attractive material for controlled and localized release of therapeutics within the body, aiming at increased efficacy and reduced risks of potential side effects. Since this is a rapidly evolving field as a consequence of the number of research groups involved, a critical review of the state of the art is necessary.

AREAS COVERED

In this work, the most promising and successful applications of nanoPS in the field of drug delivery are reviewed and discussed. Two key issues such as drug loading and release are also analyzed in detail. The development of multifunctional (hybrid) systems, aiming at imparting additional functionalities to the nanoPS particles such as luminescence, magnetic response and/or plasmonic effects (allowing simultaneous tracking and guiding), is also examined.

EXPERT OPINION

Nanostructured materials based on silicon are promising platforms for pharmaceutical applications given their ability to degrade and low toxicity. However, a very limited number of clinical applications have been demonstrated so far.

Invitro study of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with adsorbed mitoxantrone (MTO) as a drug delivery system to treat breast cancer

Mitoxantrone 600 dpi in TIF format)??>(MTO) is a well-known anticancer drug. In order to improve its therapeutic effect, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were studied in vitro as a drug delivery system.

Mathematical modeling of drug release from nanostructured porous Si: combining carrier erosion and hindered drug diffusion for predicting release kinetics

A novel, empirical, macroscopic model is developed to describe the release of a model anticancer drug, Mitoxantrone, from native and chemically modified porous Si (PSi) thin films. Drug release from these carriers results from a combination of two mechanisms, i.e. out-diffusion of the drug molecules and erosion of the Si scaffold. Thus, the proposed mathematical model adapts the Crank model to lump the effects of temporal changes in molecular interactions and carrier scaffold erosion into a comprehensive model of hindered drug diffusion from nanoscale porous systems. Careful characterization of pore size, porosity, surface area, drug loading, as well as Si scaffold degradation profiles, measured over the same time-scale as drug release, are incorporated into the model parameter estimation. A comparison of the experimental and model results shows accurate representation of the data, emphasizing the reliability of the model. The proposed model shows that drug diffusivity values significantly vary with time for the two studied carriers, which are ascribed to the distinctive role of the prevailing physical mechanisms in each system. Finally, secondary validation of the proposed model is demonstrated by showing adequate fit to published data of the release of dexamethasone from similar mesoporous Si carriers.

Bombarding cancer: biolistic delivery of therapeutics using porous Si carriers

A new paradigm for an effective delivery of therapeutics into cancer cells is presented. Degradable porous silicon carriers, which are tailored to carry and release a model anti-cancer drug, are biolistically bombarded into in-vitro cancerous targets. We demonstrate the ability to launch these highly porous microparticles by a pneumatic capillary gene gun, which is conventionally used to deliver cargos by heavy metal carriers. By optimizing the gun parameters e.g., the accelerating gas pressure, we have successfully delivered the porous carriers, to reach deep targets and to cross a skin barrier in a highly spatial resolution. Our study reveals significant cytotoxicity towards the target human breast carcinoma cells following the delivery of drug-loaded carriers, while administrating empty particles results in no effect on cell viability. The unique combination of biolistics with the temporal control of payload release from porous carriers presents a powerful and non-conventional platform for designing new therapeutic strategies.