Issue 57, 2014

Polymer-controlled core–shell nanoparticles: a novel strategy for sequential drug release

Abstract

Sequentially-controlled drug release is required in cancer combination chemotherapy treatment. With the aim of co-delivering multiple drugs with different targets, immiscible and miscible liquids were utilized to fabricate PVP/PLGA and PCL/PLGA nanoparticles with a distinct core–shell structure by coaxial electrospray. It allows the fabrication of core–shell nanoparticles with different inner core characteristics of hydrophilic properties in one single step. The anti-angiogenesis agent combretastatin A4 (CA4) and doxorubicin (DOX) were each encapsulated separately in the core and shell parts of dual-drug nanoparticles. Both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs can be encapsulated into the coaxial-electrospray particles effectively, and the encapsulation efficiencies of drugs, particularly the hydrophilic ones, are over 90%. The endothelial cell and tumor cell co-culture systems were utilized to testify the performances of different nanoparticles against cytotoxicity, cellular apoptosis and VEGF and HIF-1α protein expressions in vitro. The melanoma cells B16-F10 and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were sequentially targeted and killed by CA4 and DOX from these two kinds of nanoparticles. It demonstrated two different sequential drug release profiles in vitro. PVP/PLGA nanoparticles, with hydrophilic inner cores, presented a faster and higher drug release than that of PCL/PLGA nanoparticles, due to the better affinity of PVP polymers with the incubation media. These results suggested that the release rates and profiles of dual drug loaded particles can be tailored and tuned by choosing core polymers with different characteristics of hydrophilic properties. Therefore, the clinical treatment necessity can be fulfilled and the improvement of drug efficiency is promising in tumor combination chemotherapy.

Graphical abstract: Polymer-controlled core–shell nanoparticles: a novel strategy for sequential drug release

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Apr 2014
Accepted
05 Jun 2014
First published
06 Jun 2014

RSC Adv., 2014,4, 30430-30439

Author version available

Polymer-controlled core–shell nanoparticles: a novel strategy for sequential drug release

Y. Cao, B. Wang, Y. Wang and D. Lou, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 30430 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA03610G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements