Simple fabrication of biocompatible chitosan/graphene oxide microspheres for pH-controlled amoxicillin delivery

Abstract

Chitosan (CS) is one of the main members of the polysaccharide family which could be used for obtaining a system with a pH-controlled and sustained drug release profile. By considering this, the current research describes the simple fabrication of a series of the new pH-sensitive microspheres based on CS and graphene oxide (GO) to evaluate their efficiency as the drug carrier. The successful formation of the CS/GO microspheres was explored via several characterization techniques. Amoxicillin (AMX) as an antibacterial drug was loaded about 78%-89% in the prepared microspheres (AMX@CS/GO). The highest drug loading value was obtained for CS/GO; 15%. Drug release and MTT tests respectively approved the positive influence of CS in obtaining sustained and pH-controlled AMX release behavior and more biocompatibility. From this isotherm study, the maximum binding capacity of CS/GO 15% for AMX was determined at about 172.41 mg g−1. The antibacterial activity of the AMX loaded microspheres was confirmed via the disc diffusion method. In conclusion, the outputs of this work revealed that the fabricated CS/GO 15% could be potentially proposed as a biocompatible system for drug delivery applications.