Design and fabrication of a mesoporous silica scaffold for oral delivery of peptides.

The goal of this effort was to create mesoporous nanoparticles (MSNs) decorated with amine groups and loaded with liraglutide (LRT) for oral delivery. Amine-decorated MSNs were helpful for peptide entrapment and prolonged release of liraglutide, a GLP-1 analog. Liraglutide-loaded MSNs were made by using acetonitrile and water sol-gel techniques. Over the course of 24 h, the particles provided consistent drug release, with cumulative release reaching up to 90% in vitro. Differential dynamic light scattering, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to characterize the synthesized formulation. The MTT assay was used to evaluate cell viability along with the hemolysis assay and was found to be safe. Particle size determination was performed by a zeta sizer; the size was 286 nm [Formula: see text], and the PDI and zeta potential were 0.29 and +8.89 mV, respectively. The drug entrapment efficiency was also very good at 56% ± 9%, and the drug release was more than 90.0% ± 9 within 24 h at all pH values tested. The efficacy of the particles was examined in a rat model of diabetes and contrasted with that of a group that received daily injections of liraglutide. Between 0 and 5 days after the start of treatment, lower blood sugar levels were observed in the particle treatment groups than in the injection groups. Overall, the liraglutide-loaded MSNs created in this work are effective in a rat model of diabetes, and as a result, we believe that they have great potential for clinical application.