Kim Younghoon, Dalhaimer Paul, Christian David A, Discher Dennis E
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Nanotechnology. 2005 Jul;16(7):S484-91. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/16/7/024. Epub 2005 May 18.
Nanoscale carriers of active compounds, especially drugs, need not be spherical in shape. Worm micelles as blends of degradable polylactic acid (PLA) and inert block copolymer amphiphiles were prepared for controlled release and initial study of carrier transport through nano-porous media. The loading capacity of a typical hydrophobic drug, Triamterene, and the release of hydrophobic dyes were evaluated together with morphological changes of the micelles. Degradation of PLA by hydrolysis led to the self-shortening of worms and a clear transition towards spherical micelles, correlating with the release of hydrophobic dyes. Perhaps equally important for application is the flexibility of worm micelles, which we show allows them to penetrate nanoporous gels where 100 nm sized vesicles cannot enter. Such gels have served as tissue models, and so the results here collectively suggest a new class of hydrophobic drug nano-carriers that are capable of tissue permeation as well as controlled release.
活性化合物尤其是药物的纳米级载体不必是球形的。制备了作为可降解聚乳酸(PLA)和惰性嵌段共聚物两亲物混合物的蠕虫状胶束,用于控释以及载体通过纳米多孔介质传输的初步研究。评估了典型疏水药物氨苯蝶啶的负载能力、疏水染料的释放以及胶束的形态变化。PLA的水解降解导致蠕虫状胶束自缩短并明显转变为球形胶束,这与疏水染料的释放相关。对于应用而言,蠕虫状胶束的柔韧性或许同样重要,我们的研究表明,这种柔韧性使它们能够穿透100纳米大小的囊泡无法进入的纳米多孔凝胶。此类凝胶已用作组织模型,因此这里的结果共同表明了一类新型的疏水药物纳米载体,它们能够实现组织渗透以及控释。