Fabrication and In vitro drug release characteristics of magnetic nanocellulose fiber composites for efficient delivery of nystatin

In the present study, one pot fabrication process was used for the synthesis of magnetic nanocellulose fiber composite (MCFNCs), wherein In situ co-precipitation methodology contains reaction of iron with ammonia in controlled temperature environment and cellulose fibers acts as a capping and stabilizing agent. The crosslinked cellulose fibers helps to dissociate Fe ions and avoid aggregation during the nucleation stages. The Nystatin (Nyst) was used as a model drug for studying the release characteristics of MCFNCs. The preliminary confirmation was done by comparing the FTIR spectra of synthesized MCFNCs with its precursor. The fabricated MCFNCs was characterized by x-ray Diffraction, Vibrating Sample Magnetometry, Particle Size, etc. The surface morphology and internal structure were identified by Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopic observation of respective samples. It shows porous aggregated structure of synthesized nanocellulose, BET surface area and BJH pore size was determined simultaneously and found to be 13.42 m² g⁻¹ and 104.48 Å respectively. Due to the porous nature of nanocellulose fiber, it has high loading capacity i.e. around 17.8% amongst porous material category. In vitro drug release characteristics of Nyst loaded MCFNCs compared to pure drug showed sustained delivery for up to 8h time period. The Antifungal activity was evaluated on Candida Albicans and showed prominent inhibitory activity. The biocompatible nature of synthesized nanocomposites obtained from the natural nanocellulose fiber has a huge prospective in magnetically guided drug delivery in various parasitic diseases and have a potential of biomedical applications. (paper)