مشخصات پژوهش

In recent years, the discovery of new drug delivery systems based on biomaterials has attracted much attention for treatment of cancer diseases. Widely used biomaterials for the controlled release of anticancer drugs include natural polymers, such as alginate (Alg), chitosan (CS), and cellulose derivatives [1]. Chitosan, a cationic polysaccharide consisting of d-glucosamine and N-acetyl glucosamine, has been extensively applied in drug delivery systems, because it is biodegradable, biocompatible, non-immunogenic, non-carcinogenic, anti-bacterial and mucoadhesive. The use of polyelectrolyte complexes (PEC) between the anionic polymers such as Alg and cationic CS has been widely studied for the controlled delivery of drugs [2]. Among chemotherapeutic compounds in the treatment of cancer diseases, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is one of the most widely used antineoplastics drugs for the treatment of different cancer diseases. However, it metabolizes so fast that the biological half-life is only 10-20 min [3]. Studies on the applications of clays to carry out specific functions such as delaying and/or targeting drug release, improving drug dissolution, increasing drug stability and modifying drug delivery patterns have been reviewed. Among layered silicate materials, montmorillonite (MMT), has attracted a great deal of attention due to its ability to release drugs in a controlled manner, mucoadhesiveness to the pharmaceutical formulations, ability to cross the gastrointestinal barrier and orally bioavailability [4]. In this study to develop a control drug release system for 5-FU, and the synergetic effect of folic acid in cancer chemotherapeutic compounds, drugs were loaded on montmorillonite layers by intercalation method. In order to control the drug release, the prepared nanocomposites was compounded with Alg, and further coated with CS. This novel drug delivery system was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning