title: 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.affiliation: Center for Education and Research on Macromolecules (CERM), Department of Chemistry, University of Liège, Sart Tilman B6a, B-4000 Liège (Belgium), Fax: (+32) 4-36663497; CNRS, Univ. Bordeaux, ICMCB, UPR 9048, F-33600 Pessac (France), Fax:(+33) 540002761.
authors.forename: Ji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Detrembleur
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grignard
authors.forename: Marie-Claire
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: De Pauw-Gillet
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mornet
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Treguer-Delapierre
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Petit
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jérôme
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Duguet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays; D007783:Lactones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D007783:Lactones; C521904:poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(epsilon-caprolactone); D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D006046:Gold; D004317:Doxorubicin
keywords: drug delivery; gold; nanorods; phase transitions; polymers