(27a) Adsorption and Desorption of Polymeric Nanoparticulate Drug Delivery Systems On Cellulose Surfaces

With the increasing consumption of nanomedicine and a lack of regulation governing their disposal, the occurrence and fate of medicines in the environment and the potential consequences for human health have been increasingly recognized as issues warranting consideration. To properly assess the distribution and fate of nanomedicine and develop successful strategies for minimizing any side effects on the environment, one has to understand how nanomedicine interacts and adsorbs on environmental interfaces. To this end, we investigated the adsorption and desorption behavior of polymeric nanoparticulate drug delivery systems (PNDDS), which represent one of the most commonly used forms of drug delivery, on cellulose surfaces. In this study, cellulose is selected because it is the most abundant component of plant roots and important in the context of determining how PNDDS may accumulate on the plant roots, which can be consumed by animals or affect symbiotic relationships with fungi and bacteria. It was found that the adsorption was partially reversible, and strongly influenced by PNDDS size.