Electrospherization of genistein@DNA core-shell nanospheres as a drug delivery system and theoretical study of the release mechanism

Abstract

Encapsulation of poor water-soluble drug was considered as one of the widely used approaches to overcome such obstacle. The goal of this research was in situ encapsulate the hydrophobic genistein (GEN) during the electrospherization (Es) of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) nanospheres as a delivery system with appropriate drug release properties. The prepared nanospheres (free GEN sample; Es DNA and GEN loaded DNA; Es GEN@DNA) were characterized using uv–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), transmission electron microscope (TEM), zeta potential, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), x-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and stability test. In addition, the drug encapsulation % was studied, the drug release efficiency was recorded and theoretically visualized to understand the mechanism and kinetics of GEN drug release. The results revealed that GEN was successfully encapsulated during the DNA electrospherization as a core (GEN)/shell (DNA) like structure with a wonderful stability against time. The UV–vis patterns and their deconvolutions introduced that the emerged peak around 372–500 nm of Es GEN@DNA nanospheres has an area under curve larger than that of the free GEN sample. Zeta potential value decreased from −17.4 to −14.3 mV. In addition, TEM images confirmed the formation of a core/shell structure with average size 109.2 nm. XRD pattern of Es GEN@DNA revealed that GEN lost its crystalline phase, which indicated the incorporation of the drug. On the other hand, %Encapsulation of GEN within DNA nanospheres was found to be 89.62%. Es GEN@DNA release profile explored that the well entrapped GEN within the DNA nanospheres could be a promising for sustained drug release. Besides, the dilemma of using a fractal or fractional kinetics model was overcame by introducing a general fractional kinetic equation that involves a time-dependent rate coefficient, which introduced that the solution of the fractional kinetic model can fit the release data profiles.