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Updated: Feb 9, 2026

Delivery of Therapeutic Agents Through Intracerebroventricular ICV and Intravenous IV Injection in Mice
Published on: October 3, 2011
A dual-responsive nanocapsule via disulfide-induced self-assembly for therapeutic agent delivery
Wenhai Lin1,2, Tingting Sun1,2, Zhigang Xie1
1State Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics , Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry , Chinese Academy of Sciences , 5625 Renmin Street , Changchun , Jilin 130022 , P. R. China . Email: xiez@ciac.ac.cn ; ; Tel: +86 431 85262775.
Abstract:
One-step synthesis of fluorescent molecules (SNBDP) containing one disulfide bond and two o-nitrobenzyl groups was demonstrated via multi-component Passerini reaction. This hydrophobic SNBDP could self-assemble into nanocapsules (SNBDP NCs) in aqueous solution via disulfide-induced assembly. The obtained nanocapsules were stable in aqueous solution for several weeks and exhibited enhanced fluorescence when nanocapsules were destroyed due to disaggregation-induced emission. The nanocapsules not only were reduction-sensitive and light-responsive, but also could be endocytosed by HeLa cells for cellular imaging. The enhanced fluorescence in the glutathione (GSH) pretreated HeLa cells showed that the compound was reduction-sensitive in living cells. In vitro WST-8 assays showed the nanocapsules were biocompatible and could further be used as drug delivery carriers. Indocyanine green (ICG), a clinically approved NIR dye, was loaded into the nanocapsules (ICG@SNBDP NCs). ICG@SNBDP NCs showed enhanced photothermal efficacy compared with same concentration of free ICG under 808-nm laser irradiation. Consequently, ICG@SNBDP NCs upon NIR irradiation can effectively kill cancer cells through local hyperthermia. These results highlight the potential of disulfide-induced nanocapsules as smart nanoparticles for cellular imaging and therapeutic agent delivery.
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