Lyotropic liquid crystal elastomers for drug delivery

Journal article, 2023

Silicone elastomers like polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) possess a combination of attractive material and biological
properties motivating their widespread use in biomedical applications. Development of elastomers with capacity
to deliver active therapeutic substances in the form of drugs is of particular interest to produce medical devices
with added functionality. In this work, silicone-based lyotropic liquid crystal elastomers with drug-eluting
functionality were developed using PDMS and triblock copolymer (diacrylated Pluronic F127, DA-F127).
Various ternary PDMS–DA-F127–H2O compositions were explored and evaluated. Three compositions were
found to have specific properties of interest and were further investigated for their nanostructure, mechanical
properties, water retention capacity, and morphology. The ability of the elastomers to encapsulate and release
polar and nonpolar substances was demonstrated using vancomycin and ibuprofen as model drugs. It was shown
that the materials could deliver both types of drugs with a sustained release profile for up to 6 and 5 days for
vancomycin and ibuprofen, respectively. This works demonstrates a lyotropic liquid crystal, silicone-based
elastomer with tailorable mechanical properties, water retention capacity and ability to host and release polar
and nonpolar active substances.