Halloysite clay nanotubes as effective nanocarriers for the adsorption and loading of vancomycin for sustained release

Abstract

Ensuring the adequate delivery of local antibiotic concentrations to infected bone is crucial. Accordingly, we developed a new and simple controlled release system with halloysite clay nanotubes (HNTs) as nanocarriers of vancomycin (Van), a potent antibiotic drug, for the simple preparation of a local drug delivery system. Noncytotoxic HNTs served as barriers against cell ingrowth for the delivery system. The preparation conditions of HNTs–Van were optimized. With the mass ratio of Van and HNTs controlled at 2 : 1, HNTs–Van obtained the highest Van loading content under suitable preparation conditions. HNTs–Van allowed the effective and extended release of the drug over a period of 33 days, compared with only 1 day with the direct release of pristine Van. The feasibility of the highly effective local antibacterial activity of HNTs–Van in treating infections was confirmed through the Kirby–Bauer assay. This work suggests that HNTs are efficient for the local delivery of antibiotics in bacterial infection treatment.