Yakın tarihte yapılan bir bilimsel çalışmada, antibiyotik olan Metronidazole ilacı Montmorillonit ile birleştirilerek, ilacın Kolondaki etkileri araştırılmıştır. Geliştirilen ilaç taşıma sisteminde yapılan analizler ve mevcut ticari formülasyonlarla yapılan kıyaslamalar sonucunda,

Bentonit ile birleştirilen Metronidazole ilaç sisteminin, ilaç salınımını istenen periyoda yayabilmesi konusunda fayda sağlayabileceği belirtilmiştir.

Çalışmanın İngilizce özetine aşağıda yer verilmiştir;

Montmorillonite Nanodevices For The Colon Metronidazole Delivery
Calabrese I, Cavallaro G, Scialabba C, Licciardi M, Merli M, Sciascia L, Turco Liveri ML.
Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze Ed. 17, 90128 Palermo, Italy.
PMID: 24076230 [PUBMED] Int J Pharm. 2013 Nov 30;457(1):224-36
The adsorption profiles of the antibiotic metronidazole (MNE) into the K10-montmorillonite (MMT-K10) clay and the subsequent release have been investigated as a function of pH and MNE/MMT-K10 ratio, in order to evaluate the potential of the MNE/MMT-K10 hybrids as controlled drug delivery system.

The adsorption mechanism has been first elucidated by performing complementary equilibrium and kinetic studies and through the X-ray diffractometry (XRD) characterization of the obtained composite materials. The gathered results allowed us to propose a mechanism consisting of a multi-step pathway involving the neutral and the cationic form of the drug, which interact with different sites of the clay surfaces, i.e. the interlayer region and the faces of the lamella. In a second step the drug release kinetics has been studied under physiological pH mimicking conditions simulating the oral drug administration and delivery. For the sake of comparison the commercial formulation has also been employed for the release studies. The investigation of the release profiles and the comparison with the commercial formulation of the drug reveal that the new-tailor made formulation could be fruitful exploited for successfully prolonged the action of drug in the desired site.