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Nanotech News
Calcium Carbonate Nanoparticles for Delivering Protein Drugs Researchers at the Jikei University School of Medicine in Japan have developed a simple method for creating calcium carbonate nanoparticles loaded with hydrophilic drugs. In a study reported in the Journal of Controlled Release, a group headed by Y. Mizushima, Ph.D., reported that adding sodium carbonate to a rapidly stirred solution of bioactive drug molecule, such as erythropoietin or granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), and calcium chloride produced drug-incorporating nanoparticles with an average diameter of 45 nanometers. Over 90 percent of the drug was incorporated into the nanoparticles. Larger nanoparticles, approximately 150 nanometers in diameter, resulted when the solutions were stirred gently. In vitro studies showed that the nanoparticles released their contents at a fairly constant rate over the course of seven days. Stability studies showed that while G-CSF release from the nanoparticle degraded in solution, drug remaining in the nanoparticle was stable over the course of the experiment. This work is detailed in a paper titled "Drug-incorporating calcium carbonate nanoparticles for a new delivery system." An abstract is available. |
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