Nanocellulose composite aerogels for efficient drug loading and sustained release

The development of effective drug delivery systems is crucial for improving the efficacy of cancer drugs, in order to overcome the issues of low drug loading and drug burst release. Nanocellulose composite aerogel was prepared as a drug carrier for 5-fluorouracil, which had the advantages of three-dimensional network structures, high porosity and good biocompatibility, and its loading capacity was much higher than that of other bio-based drug carriers. Fourier-transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, cytotoxicity analysis, and other analytical techniques were used to analyse the physical and chemical structures of nanocellulose composite aerogels. The analysis revealed that the introduction of β-cyclodextrin and sodium hyaluronate led to good compressibility, rich network structure, and abundant adsorption active sites of the nanocellulose composite aerogel, which was more suitable as a drug carrier. The maximum amount of 5-fluorouracil on the nanocellulose composite aerogel through coating and hydrogen bonding reached 486.93 mg/g. The drug release curves of the nanocellulose composite aerogels depended on pH and conformed to the first-order kinetic model and Korsmeyer-Peppas model. Nanocellulose composite aerogels exhibited a high loading capacity and controllable release of 5-fluorouracil, with great potential for biomedical applications. Graphical abstract Nanocellulose composite aerogels for efficient drug loading and sustained release