Human Lactoferrin-clay Mineral Nanohybrids as Emerging Green Biomaterials: A Physicochemical Characterization. Valentino, C. Martínez, T. Hernández, P. Arrebola Vargas, Francisco Jesús Paredes, JM. Rossi, S. Sandri, G. Medina, MM. Aguzzi, C. Montmorillonite Halloysite Clay minerals Lactoferrin Spray drying Nanohybrids Herein montmorillonite and halloysite have been exploited to prepare advanced lactoferrin-loaded nanohybrid biomaterials for potential biomedical applications. Nanohybrids were prepared following two methodologies: a traditional procedure which induces spontaneous drug-clay interactions to take place in aqueous environment and by spray drying, as alternative and preferred industrial technique for protein processing. Structural assembly of the obtained nanohybrids was assessed by solid state characterization techniques and determination of their surface charge properties. Full microscopy studies, including scanning electron microscopy and ultra-high resolution transmission electron microscopy coupled with EDS were also carried out. Cytotoxicity assays were performed to assess biocompatibility of nanohybrids towards human fibroblast cell cultures. Results showed that both intercalation-solution and spray drying procedures led to the effective formation of nanohybrids structures, with greater extent of peptide-clay mineral interactions in those obtained by spray drying. All the samples exhibited cell viability % higher than 80%, with best results for halloysite coupled with spray drying technique. 2026-01-16T10:58:14Z 2026-01-16T10:58:14Z 2023-07-23 journal article https://hdl.handle.net/10481/109803 10.1016/j.clay.2023.107085 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ embargoed access Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV.