Gold nanorods with phase-changing polymer corona for remotely near-infrared-triggered drug release.

Abstract

Herein, we report a new drug-delivery system (DDS) that is comprised of a near-infrared (NIR)-light-sensitive gold-nanorod (GNR) core and a phase-changing poly(ε-caprolactone)-b-poly(ethylene glycol) polymer corona (GNR@PCL-b-PEG). The underlying mechanism of the drug-loading and triggered-release behaviors involves the entrapment of drug payloads among the PCL crystallites and a heat-induced phase change, respectively. A low premature release of the pre-loaded doxorubicin was observed in PBS buffer (pH 7.4) at 37 °C (<10% of the entire payload after 48 h). However, release could be activated within 30 min by conventional heating at 50 °C, above the Tm of the crystalline PCL domain (43.5 °C), with about 60% release over the subsequent 42 h at 37 °C. The NIR-induced heating of an aqueous suspension of GNR@PCL-b-PEG under NIR irradiation (802 nm) was investigated in terms of the irradiation period, power, and concentration-dependent heating behavior, as well as the NIR-induced shape-transformation of the GNR cores. Remotely NIR-triggered release was also explored upon NIR irradiation for 30 min and about 70% release was achieved in the following 42 h at 37 °C, with a mild warming (<4 °C) of the surroundings. The cytotoxicity of GNR@PCL-b-PEG against the mouse fibroblastic-like L929 cell-line was assessed by MTS assay and good compatibility was confirmed with a cell viability of over 90% after incubation for 72 h. The cellular uptake of GNR@PCL-b-PEG by melanoma MEL-5 cells was also confirmed, with an averaged uptake of 1250(±110) particles cell(-1) after incubation for 12 h (50 μg mL(-1)). This GNR@PCL-b-PEG DDS is aimed at addressing the different requirements for therapeutic treatments and is envisaged to provide new insights into DDS targeting for remotely triggered release by NIR activation.

• Authors: Ji Liu, Christophe Detrembleur, Bruno Grignard, Marie-Claire De Pauw-Gillet, Stéphane Mornet, Mona Treguer-Delapierre, Yannick Petit, Christine Jérôme, Etienne Duguet
• Journal: Chemistry, an Asian journal (Chem Asian J) Vol. 9 Issue 1 Pg. 275-88 (Jan 2014) ISSN: 1861-471X [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 24347074 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Chemical References

• Lactones
• poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(epsilon-caprolactone)
• Polyethylene Glycols
• Gold
• Doxorubicin

Topics

• Animals
• Cell Line
• Cell Survival (drug effects)
• Doxorubicin (chemistry, pharmacology)
• Drug Delivery Systems (methods)
• Gold (chemistry)
• Humans
• Infrared Rays
• Lactones (chemistry, pharmacology)
• Mice
• Microscopy, Fluorescence
• Nanotubes (chemistry)
• Polyethylene Glycols (chemistry, pharmacology)