Molecular nanoworm with PCL core and PEO shell as a non-spherical carrier for drug delivery

Peng Zhao; Lixin Liu; Xiaoqin Feng; Chun Wang; Xintao Shuai; Yongming Chen

doi:10.1002/marc.201200172

Molecular nanoworm with PCL core and PEO shell as a non-spherical carrier for drug delivery

Macromol Rapid Commun. 2012 Aug 28;33(16):1351-5. doi: 10.1002/marc.201200172. Epub 2012 May 18.

Authors

Peng Zhao¹, Lixin Liu, Xiaoqin Feng, Chun Wang, Xintao Shuai, Yongming Chen

Affiliation

¹ Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

PMID: 22605575
DOI: 10.1002/marc.201200172

Abstract

Core/shell wormlike polymer brushes with densely grafted poly(ϵ-caprolactone)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (PCL-b-PEO) are synthesized via grafting an alkynyl terminated PCL-b-PEO (ay-PCL(17) -b-PEO(113) ) onto a well-defined azido functionalized polymethacrylate (PGA(940) ) and are evaluated preliminarily as a single molecular cylindrical vehicle for drug delivery. Water soluble molecular worms of ca. 230 nm are obtained and then the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) is loaded into its PCL core by hydrophobic interaction. Compared with spherical micelles from linear PCL(17) -b-PEO(113) , the brushes demonstrate a lower loading efficiency but a faster release rate of DOX. Confocal laser scanning microscopy measurements show that DOX-loaded cylindrical molecular brushes can easily enter into HeLa and HepG2 cells in 1 h.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Drug Carriers / chemistry*
Drug Delivery Systems / instrumentation*
Molecular Structure
Nanostructures / chemistry*
Polyesters / chemical synthesis
Polyesters / chemistry*
Polymers / chemical synthesis
Polymers / chemistry*

Substances

Drug Carriers
Polyesters
Polymers
polyethylene oxide-polycaprolactone copolymer