Thermoresponsive polymeric gel as a medium for examining interactions between dsDNA and an anticancer drug

A piece of dry N-isopropylacrylamide polymer was soaked in phosphate buffer to obtain a hydrogel which was then employed in the examination of interactions between an anticancer drug C-1311 (5-diethylaminoethyl-amino-8-hydroxyimidazoacridinone) and dsDNA. dsDNA was introduced into the polymer at the polymerization stage. The drug was added to the buffer. Using the volume phase transition of the gel at 40 degrees C, the unbound drug could be determined in the solution released during the transition, which made the calculations more reliable. The interaction parameters were calculated using the McGhee and von Hippel model. It appeared that in the gel medium, the interaction between the drug and dsDNA is spatially limited, since the number of binding units of the polymer chain occupied by one drug molecule was found to be one, while it was two in the regular buffer solution.