Cell uptake of paclitaxel solid lipid nanoparticles modified by cell-penetrating peptides in A549 cells

The aim of this study was to investigate the cytotoxicity of paclitaxel solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) modified with stearic acid octaarginine (SA-R8-PTX-SLN) as well as the cellular uptake of coumarin-6-loaded SLN modified with SA-R8 (SA-R8-C6-SLN) in human lung cancer cells, A549. SLN were prepared using a film dispersion method; and then their particle size, zeta potential, morphology, bound efficiency of SAR8, drug loading efficiency, and in vitro release were characterized. SA-R8-PTX-SLN and SA-R8-C6-SLN were incubated with A549 cells to measure their cytotoxicity and cellular uptake, respectively. The results indicated that the cytotoxicity of SA-R8-PTX-SLN was enhanced significantly with the increasing amount of SA-R8 and the cellular uptakes of SLN increased with the incubated concentrations and the incubated time of SLN. In contrast, SA-R8-SLN could significantly enhance the cellular uptake of SLN and the cytotoxicity of PTX in A549 cells. These in vitro results suggest that SA-R8-SLN could be proposed as alternative drug delivery system.