title: Dissipative particle dynamics study on self-assembled platycodin structures: the potential biocarriers for drug delivery.
abstract: Platycodin, as a kind of plant based biosurfactants, are saponins which derived from the root of Platycodon grandiflorum A. DC. It has been confirmed that platycodin have the potential to enhance the solubility of hydrophobic drugs and function as the drug carrier, which depends on their micellization over critical micelle concentration (CMC) in aqueous solutions. With the purpose of investigating the effects of influencing factors on the micellization behavior of platycodin and obtaining the phase behavior details at a mesoscopic level, dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations method has been adopted in this study. The simulations reveal that a rich variety of aggregates morphologies will appear with changes of structure or the concentration of saponins, including spherical, ellipse and oblate micelles and vesicles, multilamellar vesicles (MLVs), multicompartment vesicles (MCMs), tubular and necklace-like micelle. They can be formed spontaneously from a randomly generated initial state and the result has been represented in the phase diagrams. Furthermore, deeper explorations have been done on the concentration-dependent structure variation of spherical vesicles as well as the formation mechanism of MLVs. This work provides insight into the solubilization system formed by platycodin, and may serve as guidance for further development and application in pharmaceutical field of platycodin and other saponins.
authors.affiliation: Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100102, China; Key Laboratory of TCM-information Engineer of State Administration of TCM, Beijing 100102, China.
authors.forename: Xingxing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Civil Aviation General Hospital, Beijing 100123, China.
authors.forename: Haiou
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China.
authors.forename: Qianqian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China.
authors.forename: Guang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100102, China; Key Laboratory of TCM-information Engineer of State Administration of TCM, Beijing 100102, China. Electronic address: shixinyuan01@163.com.
authors.forename: Xinyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100102, China; Key Laboratory of TCM-information Engineer of State Administration of TCM, Beijing 100102, China. Electronic address: yjqiao@263.net.
authors.forename: Yanjiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qiao
mesh_terms: D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D011312:Pressure; D012503:Saponins / Q000737:chemistry*; D012996:Solutions; D012997:Solvents; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D012503:Saponins; D012996:Solutions; D012997:Solvents; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes; C008936:platycodin; D014867:Water
keywords: Biocarrier; Biosurfactant; Dissipative particle dynamics; Platycodin; Self-assembly; Solubilization