title: Brain-targeting mechanisms of lactoferrin-modified DNA-loaded nanoparticles.
abstract: Ligand-mediated brain-targeting drug delivery is one of the focuses at present. Elucidation of exact targeting mechanisms serves to efficiently design these drug delivery systems. In our previous studies, lactoferrin (Lf) was successfully exploited as a brain-targeting ligand to modify cationic dendrimer-based nanoparticles (NPs). The mechanisms of Lf-modified NPs to the brain were systematically investigated in this study for the first time. The uptake of Lf-modified vectors and NPs by brain capillary endothelial cells (BCECs) was related to clathrin-dependent endocytosis, caveolae-mediated endocytosis, and macropinocytosis. The intracellular trafficking results showed that Lf-modified NPs could rapidly enter the acidic endolysosomal compartments within 5 mins and then partly escape within 30 mins. Both Lf-modified vectors and NPs showed higher blood-brain barrier-crossing efficiency than unmodified counterparts. All the results suggest that both receptor- and adsorptive-mediated mechanisms contribute to the cellular uptake of Lf-modified vectors and NPs. Enhanced brain-targeting delivery could be achieved through the synergistic effect of the macromolecular polymers and the ligand.
authors: Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors: Rongqin
authors: R
authors: Huang
authors: Weilun
authors: W
authors: Ke
authors: Liang
authors: L
authors: Han
authors: Yang
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: Kun
authors: K
authors: Shao
authors: Liya
authors: L
authors: Ye
authors: Jinning
authors: J
authors: Lou
authors: Chen
authors: C
authors: Jiang
authors: Yuanying
authors: Y
authors: Pei
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002966:Clathrin / Q000378:metabolism; D004247:DNA / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D004705:Endocytosis; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D007781:Lactoferrin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D002966:Clathrin; D004247:DNA; D007781:Lactoferrin