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Updated: Aug 7, 2025
Targeted Plasma Membrane Delivery of a Hydrophobic Cargo Encapsulated in a Liquid Crystal Nanoparticle Carrier
Published on: February 8, 2017
Enzyme and Thermo Dual-stimuli Responsive DOX Carrier Based on PNIPAM Conjugated Mesoporous Silica
Seyyed Mostafa Ebrahimi1, Mahdieh Karamat Iradmousa1, Mahtab Rashed1
1Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Background:
Stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems have been proven to be a promising strategy to enhance tumor localization, overcome multidrug resistance (MDR), and reduce the side effects of chemotherapy agents.
Objectives:
In this study, a temperature and redox dual stimuli-responsive system using mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) for targeted delivery of doxorubicin (DOX) was developed.
Methods:
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles were capped with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), a thermo-sensitive polymer, with atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method, via disulfide bonds (DOX-MSN-S-S-PNIPAM) to attain a controlled system that releases DOX under glutathione-rich (GSH-rich) environments and temperatures above PNIPAM's lower critical solution temperature (LCST). Morphological and physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles were indicated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The drug release tests were performed at 25°C and 41°C in the absence and presence of the DTT, and the obtained results confirmed the synergic effect of temperature and reductive agent on a dual responsive release profile with a 73% cumulative release at 41°C and reductive environment during 240 min.
Results:
The average loaded drug content and encapsulation efficacy were reported as 42% and 29.5% at the drug: nanoparticle ratio of 1.5: 1. In vitro cytotoxicity assays on MCF-7 cell lines indicated significant viability decreased in cells exposed to DOX-MSN-S-S-PNIPAM compared to the free drug (DOX).
Conclusions:
Based on the results, DOX-MSN-S-S-PNIPAM has shown much more efficiency with stimuli-responsive properties in comparison to DOX on MCF-7 cancer cell lines.
