Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 8, 2026

Preparation and Characterization of Individual and Multi-drug Loaded Physically Entrapped Polymeric Micelles
Published on: August 28, 2015
Cationic amphiphilic drugs self-assemble to the core-shell interface of PEGylated phospholipid micelles and stabilize
Jing Wang1, Xueqing Xing, Xiaocui Fang
1Protein and Peptide Pharmaceutical Laboratory, National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Since polymeric micelles are promising and have potential in drug delivery systems, people have become more interested in studying the compatibility of polymeric carriers and drugs, which might help them to simplify the preparation method and increase the micellar stability. In this article, we report that cationic amphiphilic drugs can be easily encapsulated into PEGylated phospholipid (PEG-PE) micelles by self-assembly method and that they show high encapsulation efficiency, controllable drug release and better micellar stability than empty micelles. The representative drugs are doxorubicin and vinorelbine. However, gemcitabine and topotecan are not suitable for PEG-PE micelles due to lack of positive charge or hydrophobicity. Using a series of experiments and molecular modelling, we figured out the assembly mechanism, structure and stability of drug-loaded micelles, and the location of drugs in micelles. Integrating the above information, we explain the effect of the predominant force between drugs and polymers on the assembly mechanism and drug release behaviour. Furthermore, we discuss the importance of pKa and to evaluate the compatibility of drugs with PEG-PE in self-assembly preparation method. In summary, this work provides a scientific understanding for the reasonable designing of PEG-PE micelle-based drug encapsulation and might enlighten the future study on drug-polymer compatibility for other polymeric micelles.
Related Concept Videos
Micelles
Surface Active Agents
Pore Transport and Ion-Pair Transport
Pore transport, also known as convective transport, is a process where small molecules like urea, water, and sugars rapidly cross cell membranes as though there were channels or pores in the membrane. Although direct microscopic evidence is limited but the concept of pores or channels is widely accepted based on physiological evidence. Despite the lack of direct microscopic...
Lipids as Anchors
The carboxy-terminal of most of the prenylated proteins, such as Ras proteins, contains the...
Mechanisms of Membrane Domain Formation
Another mechanism for membrane domain formation involves membrane proteins interacting with cytoskeletal...
Colloids

