Stimulus-responsive mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have displayed great potentiality for controlled-release and targeted drug delivery. In the current work, a supercritical fluid method was utilized to successfully prepare cinnamon oil loaded into chitosan grafted MSNs (CO@CS-MSNs). The influencing factors of drug loads, such as pressure, temperature, impregnation time and depressure time, were investigated. The structure of CO@CS-MSNs was demonstrated with Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry (TG) as well as X-ray diffraction (XRD). The drug release assays in vitro at various pH conditions displayed that CO@CS-MSNs had an excellent pH-responsive release behavior, which confirmed that CO was loaded successfully into the CO@CS-MSNs. The findings indicated that the supercritical fluid approach is a non-destructive and efficient approach for stimulus-responsive MSNs, which is expected to further expand its application range.
Carbon Dioxide , Chitosan , Cinnamomum zeylanicum , Drug Liberation , Nanoparticles , Silicon Dioxide , Chitosan/chemistry , Silicon Dioxide/chemistry , Nanoparticles/chemistry , Hydrogen-Ion Concentration , Carbon Dioxide/chemistry , Porosity , Cinnamomum zeylanicum/chemistry , Drug Carriers/chemistry , Oils, Volatile/chemistry , Oils, Volatile/administration & dosage , X-Ray Diffraction , Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared , Microscopy, Electron, Scanning , Delayed-Action Preparations
