title: One-Step Synthesis of Cagelike Hollow Silica Spheres with Large Through-Holes for Macromolecule Delivery.
abstract: A facile, one-step method to prepare cagelike hollow silica nanospheres with large through-holes (HSNLs) using a lysozyme-assisted O/W miniemulsion technique is presented. The tetraethoxysilane (TEOS)-xylene mixture forms oil droplets which are stabilized by the cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), cosurfactant hexadecane (HD), and protein lysozyme. HSNLs (with diameter of 300-460 nm) with large through-holes (10-30 nm) were obtained directly after ultrasonic treatment and aging. Lysozyme can not only stabilize the oil/water interface, assist the hydrolysis of TEOS, and interact with silica particles to assemble into silica-lysozyme clusters but also contribute to the formation of through-holes due to its hydrophilicity variation at different pH conditions. A possible new mechanism called the interface desorption method is proposed to explain the formation of the through-holes. To confirm the effectiveness of large through-holes in delivering large molecules, bovine serum albumin (BSA, 21 × 4 × 14 nm3) was chosen as a model guest molecule; HSNLs showed much higher loading capacity compared with common hollow mesoporous silica nanospheres (HMSNs). The release of BSA can be well controlled by wrapping HSNLs with a heat-sensitive phase change material (1-tetradecanol). Cell toxicity was also conducted with a Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay to roughly evaluate the feasibility of HSNLs in biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Fudan University , Shanghai 200433, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shengnan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Fudan University , Shanghai 200433, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Fudan University , Shanghai 200433, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Limin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000077286:Cetrimonium; D002593:Cetrimonium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D004655:Emulsions; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D009113:Muramidase / Q000737:chemistry; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002593:Cetrimonium Compounds; D004337:Drug Carriers; D004655:Emulsions; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D009113:Muramidase; D000077286:Cetrimonium
keywords: hollow; large through-holes; lysozyme; oil-in-water miniemulsion; silica