Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Doped with Carbon Nanotube with Aid of Metal-Organic Gel for Drug Delivery Systems

Purpose The incidence of breast cancer worldwide has been on the rise since the late 1970s, and it has become a common tumor that threatens women's health. Aminoglutethimide (AG) is a common treatment of breast cancer. However, current treatments require frequent dosing that results in unstable plasma concentration and low bioavailability, risking serious adverse reactions. Our goal was to develop a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) based delivery system to control the release of AG and demonstrate the availability of this drug delivery system (DDS), which was doped with carbon nanotube with aid of metal-organic gel. Methods Preparation of MIP was optimized by key factors including composition of formula, ratio of monomers and drug loading concentration. Results By using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and metal-organic gels (MOGs), MIP doubled the specific surface area, pore volume tripled and the IF was 1.6 times than the reference. Compared with commercial tablets, the relative bioavailability was 143.3% and a more stable release appeared. Conclusions The results highlight the influence of MWCNT and MOGs on MIP, which has great potential as a DDS.