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Updated: May 27, 2026

Preparation and Characterization of Individual and Multi-drug Loaded Physically Entrapped Polymeric Micelles
Published on: August 28, 2015
Paclitaxel-loaded polymeric micelles based on poly(ɛ-caprolactone)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ɛ-caprolactone)
Linhua Zhang1, Yingna He, Guilei Ma
1Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biomaterials, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Tianjin, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to develop polymeric nanoscale drug-delivery system (nano-DDS) for paclitaxel (PTX) from poly(ɛ-caprolactone)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL-PEG-PCL, PCEC) copolymers, intended to be intravenously administered, able to improve the therapeutic efficacy of the drug and devoid of the adverse effects of Cremophor EL. Both of the PTX-loaded polymeric micelles and polymersomes were successfully prepared from PCEC copolymers. The obtained PTX-loaded micelles exhibited core-shell morphology with satisfactory size (93 nm), and were favorable for intravenous injection. In vitro cytotoxicity demonstrated that the cytotoxic effect of PTX-loaded micelles was lower than that of Taxol (Bristol-Myers Squibb, Princeton, New Jersey). Pharmacokinetic results indicated that the PTX-loaded micelles had longer systemic circulation time and slower plasma elimination rate than those of Taxol. Furthermore, PTX-loaded micelles showed greater tumor growth-inhibition effect in vivo on EMT6 breast tumor, in comparison with Taxol. Therefore, the prepared polymeric micelles might be potential nano-DDS for PTX delivery in cancer chemotherapy.
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