Mohsen Doostkam - Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology Division, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB),Tehran, Iran
Ayyoob Arpanaei - Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology Division, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB),Tehran, Iran
Dina Morshedi - Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology Division, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB),Tehran, Iran
Farhang Aliakbari - Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology Division, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB),Tehran, Iran

Baicalein is a well–known small molecule with polyphenolic structure, which has attracted increasingattention from worldwide researchers, due to its numerous biological effects. Despite having wide range oftherapeutic activity, baicalein possess some shortcomings which limit its applications including poor-water solubilityand short half-life. Accordingly, to increase its solubility and stability, the current study investigated the loading ofbaicalein onto different functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs). MSNs were synthesized usingtemplate removing method and were functionalized through a post grafting way. Once the functionalized MSNs wereloaded with baicalein under optimum conditions (e.g. solvent, temperature and agitating speed), the drug loading andentrapment efficiency were examined with spectroscopic and HPLC methods. The results indicated that drug loadingin amine-MSNs (A-MSNs) and polyaminated-MSNs(PEI-MSNs) were considerably more than that of unmodified NPs.The release of drug was also assessed in an aqueous solution. For hydrophobic drugs such as baicalein verifyingreleasing assay in aqueous solution is a big challenge.

Baicalein; flavonoid; mesoporous silica nanoparticles; drug loading; controlled release