Biodegradable gelatin – Ciprofloxacin – montmorillonite composite hydrogels for controlled drug release and wound dressing application

Abstract

This work reports intercalation of a sparingly soluble antibiotic (ciprofloxacin) into layered nanostructuresilicate, montmorillonite (MMT) and its reaction with bone derived polypeptide, gelatin that yields three-dimensional composite hydrogel. Drug intercalation results in changes in MMT layered space and drugloaded MMT and gelatin creates 3D morphology with biodegradable composite hydrogels. These changescan be correlated with electrostatic interactions between the drug, MMT and the gelatin polypeptidesas confirmed by X-ray diffraction patterns, thermal, spectroscopic analyses, computational modelingand 3D morphology revealed by SEM and TEM analysis. No significant changes in structural and func-tional properties of drug was found after intercalation in MMT layers and composite hydrogels. In vitrodrug release profiles showed controlled release up to 150 h. The drug loaded composite hydrogels weretested on lung cancer cells (A549) by MTT assay. The results of in vitro cell migration and proliferationassay were promising as composite hydrogels induced wound healing progression. In vitro biodegrada-tion was studied using proteolytic enzymes (lysozyme and protease K) at physiological conditions. Thisnew approach of drug intercalation into the layered nanostructure silicate by ion-exchange may havesignificant applications in cost-effective wound dressing biomaterial with antimicrobial property