Betulinic acid (BA) is a natural antitumor agent and has biological activity against multiple human tumor cell lines with low cytotoxicity to normal cells, while the high hydrophobicity and the short half-life of this compound limit its clinical application. Here, gelatin-based dual-targeted nanoparticles of BA are promising to solve this problem. Hydrophobic BA is loaded in cyclodextrin to increase its solubility and prolong the circulation time in vivo. The nanoscale drug delivery systems can further enhance the bioavailability and the antitumor effect of BA and are passively targeted to the tumor tissue sites by enhanced permeability and retention effect. The RGD sequence of gelatin specifically recognizes tumor cells and brings agents into tumor cells. The nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance, etc. In addition, we observed antitumor activity of the nanoparticles using both cell-based assays and mouse xenograft tumors, which proved that betulinic acid/gelatin-γ-cyclodextrin nanoparticles had a better tumor inhibition effect than betulinic acid/γ-cyclodextrin inclusion compound.
Ethinylestradiol (EE), is widely used to treat conditions such as breast cancer, prostate cancer and climacteric syndrome. However, due to the low water solubility of EE, the bioavailability of EE is low. Herein, to improve the bioavailability of EE, a hydrosoluble cyclodextrin drug carrier system, diethylenetriamine‐β‐cyclodextrin/ethinylestradiol (DETA‐β‐CD/EE) was prepared. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), fourier transform infrared (FTIR), 2D rotating frame overhauser effect spectroscopy (ROESY) spectrum and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to characterize the DETA‐β‐CD/EE. HPLC test showed that DETA‐β‐CD was the optimal host molecule, which can improve the solubility of EE to 496 mg L−1. Phase solubility indicated the formation of a soluble inclusion complex with 1 : 1 stoichiometry. In terms of practical application, the solubility and stability of DETA‐β‐CD/EE in blood was proved by dissolution rate studies. Overall, by the encapsulation in polysaccharide DETA‐β‐CD, the water solubility of EE is increased by 100 times. The establishment of hydrosoluble cyclodextrin drug carrier system provides support for the sustained release system or large dose drug delivery.
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