Lipid Bilayer-Coated Curcumin-based Mesoporous Organosilica Nanoparticles for Cellular Delivery

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel lipid bilayer-coated mesoporous organosilica nanoparticle system made from curcumin derivatives, demonstrating high stability, biocompatibility, and controlled cargo release for potential biomedical applications.

Contribution

It presents a new hybrid nanoparticle with high organic content, high surface area, and effective cell delivery capabilities, without using traditional silica materials.

Findings

High surface area (>1000 m2/g) of nanoparticles.

Stable in simulated biological media.

Effective cargo release in live-cell experiments.

Abstract

Effective and controlled drug delivery systems with on-demand release abilities and biocompatible properties receive enormous attention for biomedical applications. Here, we describe a novel inorganic-organic hybrid material with a strikingly high organic content of almost 50 wt%. The colloidal periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) nanoparticles synthesized in this work consist entirely of curcumin and ethane derivatives serving as constituents that are crosslinked by siloxane bridges, without any added silica. These mesoporous curcumin nanoparticles (MCNs) exhibit very high surface areas (over 1000 m2/g), narrow particle size distribution (around 200 nm) and a strikingly high stability in simulated biological media. Additionally, the MCNs are used as a cargo delivery system in live-cell experiments. A supported lipid bilayer (SLB) efficiently seals the pores and releases Rhodamin B as model cargo in HeLa cells. This novel nanocarrier concept provides a promising platform for the development of controllable and highly biocompatible theranostic systems.