Mesoporous molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles as a sustained release system of azithromycin

Abstract

A combination of a molecular imprinting technique and precipitation polymerization was applied to develop novel azithromycin-imprinted poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) nanoparticles for sustained release of azithromycin (AZM). The molecularly imprinted nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, thermal analysis, field emission scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering and nitrogen sorption analysis. Uniform and monodisperse nanoparticles with diameters equal to 100 nm were obtained when the AZM/MAA/EDMA mole ratio was 1 : 4 : 12. Binding isotherms showed that azithromycin-imprinted nanoparticles had a higher binding capacity than control nanoparticles. The drug release kinetics was fitted to a Korsmeyer–Peppas model which indicated that the rate of drug release was controlled by both diffusion of the drug and polymer swelling during the release process. The cytotoxicity of the molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (MIP NPs) was measured by MTT assay on a L929 cell line.