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Calcite Single Crystals as Hosts for Atomic-Scale Entrapment and Slow Release of Drugs
Giulia Magnabosco1, Matteo Di Giosia1, Iryna Polishchuk2
1Dipartimento di Chimica "Giacomo Ciamician", Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, via Selmi 2, 40126, Bologna, Italy.
Abstract:
Doxorubicin (DOX)/CaCO3 single crystals act as pH responsive drug carrier. A biomimetic approach demonstrates that calcite single crystals are able, during their growth in the presence of doxorubicin, to entrap drug molecules inside their lattice along specific crystallographic directions. Alterations in lattice dimensions and microstructural parameters are determined by means of high-resolution synchrotron powder diffraction measurements. Confocal microscopy confirms that doxorubicin is uniformly embedded in the crystal and is not simply adsorbed on the crystal surface. A slow release of DOX was obtained preferentially in the proximity of the crystals, targeting cancer cells.
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