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Published on: February 9, 2019
Folic acid-conjugated temperature and pH dual-responsive yolk/shell microspheres as a drug delivery system
Pengcheng Du1, Huiying Yang, Jin Zeng
1State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry and Institute of Polymer Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, People's Republic of China. pliu@lzu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
A facile and effective approach was developed to fabricate folic acid-conjugated temperature-sensitive hollow microspheres with movable pH-responsive cores for a targeted drug delivery system (DDS) via two-stage distillation precipitation polymerization. The yolk/shell structure of the microspheres obtained was revealed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Their monodisperse poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate) (P(MAA-co-EGDMA)) microgel cores expressed obvious pH stimulus-response characteristics from Dynamical Light Scattering (DLS) analysis, and their functional crosslinked poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) shells exhibited obvious temperature stimulus-responses with diameters related to the degree of crosslinking and monomer proportion. Their independent temperature and pH dual-stimulus controlled release of drug molecules (using a model anti-cancer drug, doxorubicin (DOX)) was also investigated in simulated human body fluids. Meanwhile, the FA conjugated targeting temperature-sensitive hollow microspheres with pH-responsive cores expressed excellent biocompatibility on HepG2 cells. Consequently, the precise molecular targeting properties produced by the surface folic acid groups and the independent temperature and pH dual-stimulus responsive characteristics from the unique yolk/shell structure offers promise for cancer treatment.
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