Biomaterials Based on Organic Polymers and Layered Double Hydroxides Nanocomposites: Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This manuscript is an interesting review of biomaterials based on polymers and layered double hydroxides (LDH) nanocomposites for drug delivery and tissue engineering application. The manuscript is well written, with examples and illustration as well as with schematic representation of methods used for LDH preparation. The authors well described all LDH structural, physiochemical aspects as well as biocompatibility and suitable LDH properties for therapeutic and/or diagnostic purposes. Among that, the authors well described high potential of using LDH in drug delivery systems and tissue engineering. This topic should be of interest for the community of medicine, pharmaceutical, and biomaterials science. Therefore, I suggest an acceptance for publication of this manuscript after minor revision.

The authors used terms ``organic polymers`` which is pleonasm and my suggestion is to remove word ``organic``, only polymer is enough.

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 1 Comments

Point 1: The authors used terms ``organic polymers`` which is pleonasm and my suggestion is to remove word ``organic``, only polymer is enough.

Response 1: We thank the positive comments of the reviewer about our work.

The term “organic polymers” is not a pleonasm. IUPAC defines organic and inorganic polymers as well as the textbooks to undergrad courses. Inorganic Polymer is defined as “Polymer or polymer network with a skeletal structure that does not include carbon atoms. Note: Examples include polyphosphazenes, polysilicates, polysiloxanes, polysilanes, polysilazanes, polygermanes, polysulfides etc.” [IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997). Online version (2019-) created by S. J. Chalk. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8. https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook].

To clarify this point, it was introduced the following sentence in the manuscript (highlighted in blue color): “Inorganic polymers, defined by IUPAC as “polymer network with a skeletal structure that does not include carbon atoms”, which comprise polyphosphazenes, polysilicates, polysiloxanes, polysilanes, polysilazanes, polygermanes, polysulfides etc. [ref], are out of the scope of this review work.

Reviewer 2 Report

This review deals with the pharmaceutical and tissue engineering applications of biomaterials based on organic polymers and LDH. It is well structured and complete, the references being relevant and providing a very exhaustive update of the state of the art on this topic.

However I suggest checking the text because I have detected some errors. For example in line 294: change pharmaceitical for pharmaceutical...

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 2 Comments

Point 1: However I suggest checking the text because I have detected some errors. For example in line 294: change pharmaceitical for pharmaceutical...

Response 1: We thank the positive comments of the reviewer about our work. As it was suggested, the text was carefully revised (highlighted in blue color).

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments to authors are listed below;

·       The abstract should be reported with some significant points regarding the findings from the literature instead of general view about the applications of bio nano polymer composites n drug delivery.

·       The sentence in the caption of Figure 2 is missing and should be corrected.

·       Further information should be included to clarify the properties of organic polymers in section 2

·       The  sentence in  the line 909-910  should  be cited within the text. 

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 3 Comments

Point 1: English language and style are fine/minor spell check required

Response 1: As it was required, the text was carefully revised (highlighted in blue color). A paragraph was inserted to comment about the loading capacity of LDHs (page 17 of the revised manuscript). A sentence was duplicated, and it was deleted. Added references are also highlighted in blue color in the end of the file.

Point 2: The abstract should be reported with some significant points regarding the findings from the literature instead of general view about the applications of bio nano polymer composites n drug delivery.

Response 2: The abstract was revised (highlighted in blue color) as suggested by the reviewer and some sentences were deleted to attend the journal instructions. The abstract should have about 200 words maximum. Such limitation is an indicative of short, simple, and objective abstract. Considering a review paper and the words limitation, indicate significant points about the subject is challenging. We have added the information: “Several studies attest the higher performance of polymer/LDH-drug nanocomposite compared to the LDH-drug hybrid or the free drug”. The Conclusion item is not limited in extension. Hence significant points were summarized, analyzed and the problems identified.

Point 3: The sentence in the caption of Figure 2 is missing and should be corrected.

Response 3: The caption was corrected.

Point 4: Further information should be included to clarify the properties of organic polymers in section 2

Response 4: Information was added to section 2 to underline the polymers properties of interest to the pharmaceutical and medical areas (highlighted in blue color). We remember that item 7 (page 35 of the revised version) mentions the main polymer properties of relevance in tissue regeneration.

Point 5: The sentence in the line 909-910  should  be cited within the text. 

Response 5: The sentence was modified (page 24 of the revised manuscript).