Chemically modified biopolymers derived nanomaterials have shown great potential in drug delivery and live-cell imaging. We have developed two materials, doxorubicin-loaded chitosan-gold nanoparticles and beads, both embedded with functionalized silk fibroin. Nanoparticles with size 8 ± 3 nm were synthesized using chitosan as reducing and stabilizing agent. Beads with 900−1000 μm size were formulated by the ionic gelation technique. Both the materials were coated with functionalized silk fibroin for targeted and sustained drug release properties. The coated materials showed retarded drug release compared to the uncoated ones. The cytotoxicity was assessed in HeLa cell lines, which demonstrated a maximum dose-dependent decrease in cell viability for the cells treated with folate conjugated silk fibroin coated nanoparticles. The live-cell imaging of the nanoparticles unveiled the increased cellular uptake of the coated materials by seven folds than the uncoated ones. Thus, functionalized silk coated materials can be effective drug delivery tools for targeted and sustained drug release.

化学改性的生物聚合物衍生的纳米材料在药物递送和活细胞成像中显示出巨大潜力。我们已经开发了两种材料，即装载有阿霉素的壳聚糖金纳米颗粒和微珠，均嵌入了功能化的丝素蛋白。使用壳聚糖作为还原剂和稳定剂，合成了尺寸为8±3 nm的纳米颗粒。通过离子凝胶技术配制了900-1000μm大小的珠子。两种材料均涂有功能化的丝素蛋白，以实现靶向和持续的药物释放特性。与未涂覆的材料相比，涂覆的材料显示出延迟的药物释放。在HeLa细胞系中评估了细胞毒性，这证明了叶酸偶联的丝素蛋白包被的纳米颗粒处理的细胞的细胞活力最大剂量依赖性降低。纳米粒子的活细胞成像显示，涂层材料的细胞吸收率比未涂层材料高7倍。因此，功能化的丝涂层材料可以是用于靶向和持续药物释放的有效药物递送工具。