Kwon, SooyeonSingh, Rajendra K.Kim, Tae HyunPatel, Kapil D.Kim, Jung JuChrzanowski, WojciechKim, Hae Won2026-01-012026-01-011742-7061PubMed:24239681ORCID:/0000-0002-0393-9166/work/171153409https://hdl.handle.net/1885/733801643Development of biocompatible and multifunctional nanocarriers is important for the therapeutic efficacy of drug molecules in the treatment of disease and tissue repair. A novel nanocarrier of luminescent hollowed mesoporous silica (L-hMS) was explored for the loading and controlled delivery of drugs. For the synthesis of L-hMS, self-activated luminescence hydroxyapatite (LHA) was used as a template. Different thicknesses (∼7-62 nm) of mesoporous silica shell were obtained by varying the volume of silica precursor and the subsequent removal of the LHA core, which resulted in hollow-cored (size of ∼40 nm × 10 nm) mesoporous silica nanoreservoirs, L-hMS. While the silica shell provided a highly mesoporous structure, enabling an effective loading of drug molecules, the luminescent property of LHA was also well preserved in both the silica-shelled and the hollow-cored nanocarriers. Doxorubicin (DOX), used as a model drug, was shown to be effectively loaded onto the mesopore structure and within the hollow space of the nanoreservoir. The DOX release was fairly pH-dependent, occurring more rapidly at pH 5.3 than at pH 7.4, and a long-term sustainable delivery over the test period of 2 weeks was observed. The nanoreservoir exhibited favorable cell compatibility with low cytotoxicity and excellent cell uptake efficiency (over 90%). Treatment of HeLa cells with DOX-loaded L-hMS elicited a sufficient degree of biological efficacy of DOX, as confirmed in the DOX-induced apoptotic behaviors, including stimulation in caspase-3 expression, and was even more effective than the direct DOX treatment. Overall, the newly developed L-hMS nanoreservoirs may be potentially useful as a multifunctional (luminescent, mesoporous and biocompatible) carrier system to effectively load and sustainably deliver small molecules, including anticancer drugs.This study was supported by a grant from Priority Research Centers Program (2009-0093829), National Research Foundation, South Korea.12enDrug deliveryHollow silicaLuminescentMultifunctionalNanocarrier201410.1016/j.actbio.2013.10.02884895071891