Poly(ethylene glycol) with observable shedding

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2010 Sep 3;49(37):6567-71. doi: 10.1002/anie.201001868.

Abstract

A novel FRET-bearing poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) conjugate fluoresces at 520 nm when it is cleaved off from nanoparticles (NPs). When the NPs were targeted to cancer cell lines, the reducing redox of the endosomal compartment caused disulfide bond cleavage and shedding of the PEG layer. The fluorescence emission can be suppressed by N-ethylmaleimide to inhibit disulfide cleavage and restored by dithiothreitol, a disulfide cleavage reagent, indicating a direct correlation between fluorescence emission and PEG shedding.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Drug Carriers / chemistry
  • Drug Delivery Systems
  • Endocytosis
  • Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
  • Molecular Structure
  • Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Polyethylene Glycols / chemical synthesis*
  • Polyethylene Glycols / chemistry*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization

Substances

  • Drug Carriers
  • Polyethylene Glycols