Preparation and evaluation of liver-targeting micelles loaded with oxaliplatin

We prepared liver-targeting micelles loaded with oxaliplatin (OXA), using a polymer modified by a liver-targeting ligand, namely, glycyrrhetinic acid-conjugated and stearic acid-grafted chitosan (GA-CS-SA). The particles had a uniform size, which was 138.6 ± 0.72 nm. The encapsulation efficiency was up to 71.7 ± 0.46%. The hepatic distribution of OXA in mice given OXA-GA-CS-SA was significantly superior to that in the controls (P < 0.05), which means that liver-targeted delivery of OXA was achieved. These results reveal that OXA-GA-CS-SA could be a potential and promising candidate for efficiently targeted delivery of OXA.