Engineered Bacterial Cellulose Nanostructured Matrix for Incubation and Release of Drug-Loaded Oil in Water Nanoemulsion.

Concetta Di Natale,Elena Lagreca,Paolo Antonio Netti,Vincenza De Gregorio,Raffaele Vecchione,Francesca Mauro,Brunella Corrado

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2022.851893

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a highly pure form of cellulose produced by bacteria, which possesses numerous advantages such as good mechanical properties, high chemical flexibility, and the ability to assemble in nanostructures. Thanks to these features, it achieved a key role in the biomedical field and in drug delivery applications. BC showed its ability to modulate the release of several drugs and biomolecules to the skin, thus improving their clinical outcomes. This work displays the loading of a 3D BC nanonetwork with an innovative drug delivery nanoemulsion system. BC was optimized by static culture of SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast) and characterized by morphological and ultrastructural analyses, which indicate a cellulose fiber diameter range of 30–50 nm. BC layers were then incubated at different time points with a nanocarrier based on a secondary nanoemulsion (SNE) previously loaded with a well-known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, namely, coenzyme-Q10 (Co-Q10). Incubation of Co-Q10–SNE in the BC nanonetwork and its release were analyzed by fluorescence spectroscopy.

Highlights

In the last few years, the choice of appropriate drug delivery systems has achieved great attention in the pharmaceutical field
To carry out the morphological characterization of the Bacterial cellulose (BC) produced in uncontrolled fermentation conditions (UCC) at different stages of maturation, BC layers were produced in static conditions without refreshing the medium
Three layers were obtained at 72 h, and they showed the typical BC peaks (Keshk et al, 2009; Castro et al, 2011; Tabarsa et al, 2017) with the bands at 3,353 cm−1 and 2924 cm−1 relative to the stretching of the OH and CH groups, respectively; a peak observed at 1738 cm−1 and 1,640 cm−1 associated with the stretching of the C = O groups, and the bending of the OH groups referred to absorbed water molecules into cellulose fibers, a peak at 1,046 cm−1 corresponding to the vibration of the pyranose ring–C–O–C, and the peak at 889 cm−1 related to the presence of β-glycosidic bonds (Figure 2)

Summary

Introduction

In the last few years, the choice of appropriate drug delivery systems has achieved great attention in the pharmaceutical field. Very recently, nanostructure plasmalogen-loaded cubosomes or hexosomes were reported as innovative delivery systems for the lipophilic antioxidant compound, opening new opportunities for bioinspired nanoassemblies (Angelova et al, 2021; Mathews et al, 2021) In this context, another interesting material, which is synthesized from bacteria and presents a nanostructured matrix useful for drug encapsulation and release, is the bacterial cellulose (BC); it possesses a great versatility in terms of in situ modulation, post-synthesis chemical modifications, biocompatibility, or ease of sterilization (Barud et al, 2016; Carvalho et al, 2019). Several studies revealed as BC nanofibers can allow a sustained and controlled release of antioxidant molecules such as quercetin and vanillic or cinammic acid for food or cosmetic applications (Trombino et al, 2008; Li et al, 2019; Morais et al, 2019)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion