[Effect of diameter of adriamycin polybutylcyanoacrylate nanoparticles on liver targeting]

To observe the different tissue distributions of the adriamycin polybutylcyanoacrylate nanoparticle (ADM-PBCA-NP) in the mice body after the injection via lateral tail vein, and to study the liver targeting effects of ADM-PBCA-NP in different diameters on normal mice livers.

One hundred and eighty mice were randomly divided into 6 groups with 30 mice in each group: non-conjugated free ADM (Group 1); (22.3+/-6.2) nm in diameter ADM-PBCA-NP group (Group 2); (48.6+/-9.2) nm ADM-PBCA-NP group (Group 3); (101.9+/-20.3) nm ADM-PBCA-NP group (Group 4); (143.5+/-23.5) nm ADM-PBCA-NP group (Group 5), and (194.2+/-28.4) nm ADM-PBCA-NP group (Group 6). A single dose of either conjugated or free adriamycin equaled 2 mg/kg of body weight was delivered via the tail vein. Five mice in each trail were sacrificed at 5, 15, 30 minutes, 1, 5 and 12 hours after the injection, respectively. The adriamycin concentrations in the collected livers, kidneys, spleens, hearts, lungs and plasma were demonstrated using a high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detector.

Compared with that of the control group, adriamycin was hardly detected in the heart muscles of the treatment groups (P<0.05). The nanoparticle-conjugated adriamycin was cleaned up quickly from the kidney tissues. The adriamycin concentrations of the mice liver and spleen in the experimental groups was significantly higher than those in the control group, except for the group with the nanoparticles diameters of (22.3+/-6.2) nm (P<0.05). The ADM-PBCA-NP in (101.9+/-20.3) nm diameter had the highest liver distribution, and the second highest adriamycin distribution in the liver was the group of (143.5+/-23.5) nm diameter (P<0.05). Adriamycin was released slowly in the liver during the detection period in the experimental groups. ADM-PBCA-NP in (22.3+/-6.2) nm diameter was not distributed in the tissues of the livers, kidneys, hearts, spleens, and lungs.

ADM-PBCA-NP with a 100 - 150 nm diameter range has the best liver targeting with slow medicine release. It also decreases the medicine distribution in the heart and other organs. In the treatment of liver cancer, the polybutylcyanoacrylate nanoparticle system has a good liver targeting ability, which increases the anticancer activity and markedly decreases the toxicity of adriamycin.