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Targeted Plasma Membrane Delivery of a Hydrophobic Cargo Encapsulated in a Liquid Crystal Nanoparticle Carrier
Published on: February 8, 2017
Immobilization and intracellular delivery of an anticancer drug using mussel-inspired polydopamine capsules
Jiwei Cui1, Yan Yan, Georgina K Such
1Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
Abstract:
We report a facile approach to immobilize pH-cleavable polymer-drug conjugates in mussel-inspired polydopamine (PDA) capsules for intracellular drug delivery. Our design takes advantage of the facile PDA coating to form capsules, the chemical reactivity of PDA films, and the acid-labile groups in polymer side chains for sustained pH-induced drug release. The anticancer drug doxorubicin (Dox) was conjugated to thiolated poly(methacrylic acid) (PMA(SH)) with a pH-cleavable hydrazone bond, and then immobilized in PDA capsules via robust thiol-catechol reactions between the polymer-drug conjugate and capsule walls. The loaded Dox showed limited release at physiological pH but significant release (over 85%) at endosomal/lysosomal pH. Cell viability assays showed that Dox-loaded PDA capsules enhanced the efficacy of eradicating HeLa cancer cells compared with free drug under the same assay conditions. The reported method provides a new platform for the application of stimuli-responsive PDA capsules as drug delivery systems.
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