Summary: | Kai Zhang,1 Yanling Zhuang,2 Jiwen Li,1 Xiaochang Liu,3,4 Shaoheng He4 1College of Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, Cangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2College of Humanities and Management, Hebei Agricultural University, Cangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Pharmacy, Shenyang Medical College, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China; 4Translational Medicine Research Centre, Shenyang Medical College, Shenyang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Xiaochang LiuSchool of Pharmacy, Shenyang Medical College, Shenyang, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-24-62216610Fax +86-24-62214089Email liuxiaochang1991@163.comIntroduction: Hypertension is a major health problem worldwide and is typically treated using oral drugs. However, the frequency of oral administration may result in poor patient compliance, and reduced bioavailability owing to the first-pass effect can also prove problematic.Methods: In this study, we developed a new transdermal-drug-delivery system (TDDS) for the treatment of hypertension using atenolol (ATE) based on poly(acrylic acid) (PAA)-decorated three-dimensional (3D) flower-like MoS2 nanoparticles (PAA-MoS2 NPs) that respond to NIR laser irradiation. The PAA-modified MoS2 NPs were synthesized and characterized using attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction measurements, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and the sedimentation equilibrium method. The drug-loading efficiency and photothermal conversion effect were also explored.Results: The results showed that the colloidally stable PAA-MoS2 NPs exhibited a high drug-loading capacity of 54.99% and high photothermal conversion ability. Further, the capacity of the PAA-MoS2 NPs for controlled release was explored using in vitro drug-release and skin-penetration studies. The drug-release percentage was 44.72 ± 1.04%, and skin penetration was enhanced by a factor of 1.85 in the laser-stimulated group. Sustained and controlled release by the developed TDDS were observed with laser stimulation. Moreover, in vivo erythema index analysis verified that the PAA-MoS2 NPs did not cause skin irritation.Discussion: Our findings demonstrate that PAA-MoS2 NPs can be used as a new carrier for transdermal drug delivery for the first time.Keywords: transdermal drug delivery, poly(acrylic acid), atenolol, MoS2 nanoparticles
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