Magnetocubosomes for the delivery and controlled release of therapeutics.

The design of nanostructured drug delivery systems (DDS) that improve the efficacy of therapeutic principles by enhancing their biocompatibility, bioavailability and targeting, has been the focus of extensive research over the past years. Of particular relevance in this field is the development of multifunctional architectures that can deliver different therapeutics or diagnostic agents and release them in a controlled way. In this study we report on the design, preparation and characterization of a DDS where hydrophobic Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) are included in the bilayer of bicontinuous cubic lipid nanoparticles of Glyceryl Monooleate (GMO). The "magnetocubosomes" are characterized and investigated in terms of their ability to encapsulate and release both hydrophilic and hydrophobic model drugs. For the first time Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) is used to study the diffusion of encapsulated molecules inside the bicontinuous cubic phase and to monitor their release from the matrix towards the aqueous phase. In addition, we show with the same technique that magnetocubosomes are responsive to a low frequency alternating magnetic field (LF-AMF), which acts as an external trigger to boost the release of model drugs confined in the cubic phase. Magnetocubosomes, reported for the first time in this paper, represent a novel biocompatible, multifunctional and responsive DDS.