K⁺‐Responsive Block Copolymer Micelles for Targeted Intracellular Drug Delivery

Abstract

In this work, a novel type of block copolymer micelles with K -responsive characteristics for targeted intracellular drug delivery is developed. The proposed smart micelles are prepared by self-assembly of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(N-isopropylacry-lamide-co-benzo-18-crown-6-acrylamide) (PEG-b-P(NIPAM-co-B18C6Am)) block copolymers. Prednisolone acetate (PA) is successfully loaded into the micelles as the model drug, with loading content of 4.7 wt%. The PA-loaded micelles display a significantly boosted drug release in simulated intracellular fluid with a high K concentration of 150 × 10 m, as compared with that in simulated extracellular fluid. Moreover, the in vitro cell experiments indicate that the fluorescent molecules encapsulated in the micelles can be delivered and specifically released inside the HSC-T6 and HepG2 cells responding to the increase of K concentration in intracellular compartments, which confirms the successful endocytosis and efficient K -induced intracellular release. Such K -responsive block copolymer micelles are highly potential as new-generation of smart nanocarriers for targeted intracellular delivery of drugs.

Novel Multifunctional Stimuli-Responsive Nanoparticles for Synergetic Chemo–Photothermal Therapy of Tumors

“…However, it still somewhat suffers from severe systemic toxic side effects and inevitable drug resistance that limits the therapeutic efficiency . Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers of drugs, which can respond to endogenous stimuli (such as pH, , enzyme, , ion, , and redox potential , ) and/or exogenous stimuli (such as temperature, − light, , magnetic field, , and ultrasound), have great potential to overcome the abovementioned limitations of conventional chemotherapy. However, stimuli-responsive nanocarrier-mediated single-modal chemotherapy remains undesirable due to the complexity and variability of the tumor microenvironment .…”

Bombyx mori silk-based materials with implication in skin repair: Sericin versus regenerated silk fibroin

“…Furthermore, sericin did not trigger an allergenic reaction, and exhibited low and acceptable immunogenicity. 37 Thus, sericin, an ancient, natural protein, maybe a type of biosafety biomaterial for biomedical applications, and also in the cosmetic field.…”

Intracellular K+-Responsive Block Copolymer Micelles for Targeted Drug Delivery of Curcumin

“…It has been reported that crown ether 15-crown-5 can selectively recognize and capture K + by forming stable 2 : 1 ‘‘sandwich-type’’ host–guest complexes ( Yu et al, 2013 ; Jiang et al, 2014 ; Jiang et al, 2016 ). K + -responsive micelles self-assembled by poly (ethylene glycol)-b-poly ( N -isopropylacry-lamide- co -benzo-18-crown-6-acrylamide) (PEG-b-P(NIPAM- co -B18C6Am)) block copolymers have been reported to load prednisolone acetate ( Yan et al, 2017 ). However, the therapeutic properties of the micelles are not studied, and these micelles should be stored in solution at 45 °C, which limits their further use.…”