Preparation of CTX-MEL Nanocomplexes

For the preparation of the ion-pairing nanocomplexes, CTX and MEL were formulated with a 1:2 ratio. This ratio between the two components was selected based on our preliminary laboratory investigation as well as on a recently published work [22 (link)]. CTX and MEL were dissolved separately in deionized water. Equal volumes of CTX (1 mM) and MEL (0.5 mM) were mixed and vortexed for 60 sec. Particle size and zeta potential were determined by using a Malvern Zetasizer (Malvern Instruments Ltd. Malvern, UK). The prepared CTX–MEL nanocomplexes were investigated through transmission electron microscopy (TEM) by using the JEOL-JEM-1011 microscope (JEOL-Tokyo, Japan).