Medicines in diamonds
Modified nanodiamonds will be able to deliver hormonal drugs to the human body
Scientists have modified nanodiamonds – carriers of drugs to extend the release time and therapeutic effect of drugs. The effect of nanoparticles has been tested on corticosteroids – hormonal drugs used to treat a number of diseases. The results of the study are published in the journal Applied Surface Science (Rhee et al., Prolonged effects of nanodiamonds conjugated with corticosteroids).
Detonation nanodiamonds have a number of exceptional properties, for example, they are biocompatible and low-toxic for cells of living organisms, and with the help of relatively simple modifications, the chemical composition of their surface can be changed. Due to these properties, nanodiamonds are used in optics, electronics, biomedicine, analytical chemistry, they are used in the production of lubricants and composite materials.
Nanodiamonds are capable of adsorbing, that is, binding, various substances on their surface, including medicinal ones. This makes it possible to use nanodiamonds to create systems for targeted drug delivery to a diseased organ and long-term therapeutic effect. The use of such systems will lead to an increase in the therapeutic effectiveness of drugs by reducing their dosage and long-term pharmacological effect. However, prolonged drug extraction from such systems is still a problem.
A team of researchers from South Korea and Russia, which included biophysicists of the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, by modifying the surface of nanodiamonds adsorbed drugs on them and increased the duration of drug release from the created complex. In experiments, scientists have demonstrated the applicability of modified nanodiamonds as carriers of corticosteroids – hormones produced by the adrenal glands.
For modification, scientists treated detonation nanodiamonds with sodium chloride. After that, the nanoparticles increased colloidal stability in an aqueous solution, that is, the ability not to stick together and not precipitate for a long time. Moreover, after such treatment, nanodiamonds began to hold drugs better and "give them away" more slowly.
The drugs methylprednisolone and dexamethasone were used in the experiments. They are widely used to treat many diseases, including rheumatic, skin, allergies, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. First, scientists placed nanodiamonds in solutions of drugs for their adsorption, and then controlled how the carriers would release the drugs bound to them.
"The ability of modified nanodiamonds to retain medicinal substances has increased by more than one and a half times. At the same time, the binding force of nanoparticles with adsorbed substances also increased, which ensured their longer release. For comparison, nanodiamonds without modification give away more than 80% of the bound drug in nine hours, and after modification only 50% in the same time. Using this example, we have shown the potential suitability of modified detonation nanodiamonds for creating means of prolonged drug delivery, which will increase their therapeutic effectiveness," said Vladimir Bondar, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Head of the Laboratory of Nanobiotechnology and Bioluminescence of the Institute of Biophysics SB RAS.
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