Enhanced dissolution of anticancer drug letrozole from mesoporous zeolite clinoptilolite

Radovan Kukobat; Ranko Škrbić; Fernando Vallejos-Burgos; Elisa Mercadelli; Davide Gardini; Laura Silvestroni; Chiara Zanelli; Laura Esposito; Dragana Stević; Suzana Gotovac Atlagić; Darko Bodroža; Žarko Gagić; Saša Pilipović; Biljana Tubić; Nataša Bubić Pajić

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.199

Enhanced dissolution of anticancer drug letrozole from mesoporous zeolite clinoptilolite

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Jan;653(Pt A):170-178. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.199. Epub 2023 Sep 1.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Medicine, Centre for Biomedical Research, Save Mrkalja 16, Banja Luka, the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina; University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, B.V Stepe Stepanovica 73, Banja Luka, the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Electronic address: radovan.kukobat@med.unibl.org.
² University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Medicine, Centre for Biomedical Research, Save Mrkalja 16, Banja Luka, the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina; University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and clinical Pharmacology, Save Mrkalja 16, Banja Luka, the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
³ Morgan Advanced Materials, Carbon Science Centre of Excellence, 310 Innovation Blvd., Suite 250, State College, PA 16803, USA.
⁴ CNR-ISSMC (former ISTEC), Institute of Science, Technology and Sustainability for Ceramics, Via Granarolo 64, Faenza I-48018, Italy.
⁵ University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Mladena Stojanovića 2, 78000 Banja Luka, the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
⁶ University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, B.V Stepe Stepanovica 73, Banja Luka, the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina; University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Mladena Stojanovića 2, 78000 Banja Luka, the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
⁷ University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy Department, the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
⁸ Agency for Medical Products and Medical Devices of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Maršala Tita 9, 71 000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

PMID: 37713915
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.199

Abstract

High dissolution of anticancer drugs directly adsorbed onto porous carriers is indispensable for the development of drug delivery systems with high bioavailability. We report direct adsorption/loading of the anticancer drug letrozole (LTZ) onto the clinoptilolite (CLI) zeolite after the surface activation.In vitroLTZ dissolution from the CLI zeolites reached 95 % after 23 h in an acidic medium, being faster than the dissolution of the pure LTZ molecules. Fast dissolution occurs due to uniform exposure of the LTZ onto the external surface of the CLI zeolites, being accessible to the solvent for dissolution. On the other hand, the LTZ molecules were hidden in the bulk phase, giving a slow dissolution rate. Small positive value of the CLI/LTZ adsorption energy of 0.06 eV suggests that the release process is favourable in aqueous media. The main merit of the CLI/LTZ system is its quick onset of action and high bioavailability. This work demonstrates a possibility of enhancement of the dissolution of poorly soluble LTZ from the CLI zeolite, being promising for the further development of drug delivery systems.

Keywords: Clinoptilolite; Interfacial interactions; Letrozole release.