Methotrexate intercalated layered double hydroxides with different particle sizes: structural study and controlled release properties.

To study the influence of particle size on release properties, drug efficacy and other properties, a series of methotrexate intercalated layered double hydroxides (MTX/LDHs) nanohybrids with different particle sizes were synthesized through traditional coprecipitation method, by using the mixture of water and polyethylene glycol (volume ratio is 3:1) as solvent. The relationship between particle size and hydrothermal treatment conditions (i.e., time and temperature) had been systematically investigated, and the results indicate that the particle size can be precisely controlled between 70 and 300 nm. Elemental C/H/N and inductive coupled plasma (ICP) analysis indicated that different hydrothermal treatment almost has no effect on compositions of the nanohybrids. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) investigations manifested the successful intercalation of MTX anions. MTX/LDHs particles exhibited hexagonal platelet morphology with round corner, due to the adsorption of MTX anions on positively charged LDHs surface. In addition, the crystallinity of MTX/LDHs increased with the particle diameters and the thermal stability of MTX anions was enhanced by holding together with LDHs layers. The in vitro release showed that bigger particles have much longer release duration, and the bioassay tests indicated that bigger particles are more efficient in the suppression of the tumor cells.