Development of a photon induced drug-delivery implant coating

A thin surface coating intended for medical devices such as implants where local drug release is enabled using near infrared light (NIR) as an external stimulus has been developed. The delivery system consists of a thin Poly (N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-acrylamide (PNIPAAm-AAm) polymer layer with incorporated gold nanorods (GNRs). The aspect ratio of the GNRs were chosen to absorb NIR light, thus fitting the biological window of low tissue absorption, to locally heat the polymeric layer to initiate a drug release. Hence, controlled drug delivery from a surface within tissue orchestrated from outside the body is achievable. Composition of the PNIPAAm-AAm co-polymer was systematically varied to find a suitable phase transition temperature for in vivo applications. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed that PNIPAAm-AAm containing 10% acrylamide had an appropriate phase transition temperature of 42 °C. As visualized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the surface coating consisted of 200 nm uniform polymer layer. Quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) analysis coupled with in situ NIR irradiation demonstrated a dramatic shift in frequency that was attributed to mass being released from the surface upon irradiation. This mass release correlated well with the drug release profile as determined using UV/VIS spectroscopy with phenol as a model drug. In addition, proof-of-concept of the drug-delivery system was demonstrated by releasing the antibiotic vancomycin to eradicate Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria in culture.