State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province, and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province, and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China.
J Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Mar 15;514:122-131. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.12.022. Epub 2017 Dec 7.
Star-shaped copolymers with branched structures can form unimolecular micelles with better stability than the micelles self-assembled from conventional linear copolymers. However, the synthesis of star-shaped copolymers with precisely controlled degree of branching (DB) suffers from complicated sequential polymerizations and multi-step purification procedures, as well as repeated optimizations of polymer compositions. The use of a supramolecular host-guest pair as the block junction would significantly simplify the preparation. Moreover, the star-shaped copolymer-based unimolecular micelle provides an elegant solution to the tradeoff between extracellular stability and intracellular high therapeutic efficacy if the association/dissociation of the supramolecular host-guest joint can be triggered by the biologically relevant stimuli. For this purpose, in this study, a panel of supramolecular star-shaped amphiphilic block copolymers with 9, 12, and 18 arms were designed and fabricated by host-guest complexations between the ring-opening polymerization (ROP)-synthesized star-shaped poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) with 3, 4, and 6 arms end-capped with ferrocene (Fc) (PCL-Fc) and the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP)-produced 3-arm poly(oligo ethylene glycol) methacrylates (POEGMA) with different degrees of polymerization (DPs) of 24, 30, 47 initiated by β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) (3Br-β-CD-POEGMA). The effect of DB and polymer composition on the self-assembled properties of the five star-shaped copolymers was investigated by dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and fluorescence spectrometery. Interestingly, the micelles self-assembled from 12-arm star-shaped copolymers exhibited greater stability than the 9- and 18-arm formulations. The potential of the resulting supramolecular star-shaped amphiphilic copolymers as drug carriers was evaluated by an in vitro drug release study, which confirmed the ROS-triggered accelerated drug release from the doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded supramolecular star-shaped micelles due to the oxidation-induced dissociation of β-CD/Fc pair and the consequent loss of the colloidal stability of the star-shaped micelles. Studies of the delivery efficacy by an in vitro cytotoxicity study further indicated that higher DBs and longer hydrophilic arm compromised the therapeutic efficacy of the DOX-loaded supramolecular star-shaped micelles, resulting in significantly reduced cytotoxicity, as measured by increased IC value. Overall, our results revealed that the screening of hydrophilic block by DB and MW for an optimized star-shaped copolymer should balance the stability versus therapeutic efficacy tradeoff for a comprehensive consideration. Therefore, the 12-arm star-shaped copolymer with POEGMA is the best formulation tested.
具有支化结构的星形共聚物可以形成单分子胶束,其稳定性优于传统线性共聚物自组装形成的胶束。然而,具有精确控制支化度(DB)的星形共聚物的合成受到复杂的顺序聚合和多步纯化程序以及聚合物组成的反复优化的限制。使用超分子主客体对作为嵌段连接可以显著简化制备过程。此外,如果超分子主客体键的缔合/解离可以被生物相关的刺激触发,那么基于星形共聚物的单分子胶束为细胞外稳定性和细胞内高治疗效果之间的权衡提供了一种优雅的解决方案。为此,在这项研究中,设计并制备了一组具有 9、12 和 18 个臂的超分子星形两亲嵌段共聚物,通过开环聚合(ROP)合成的星形聚(ε-己内酯)(PCL)与 3、4 和 6 个末端封端的 ferrocene(Fc)(PCL-Fc)之间的主客体络合以及原子转移自由基聚合(ATRP)产生的 3 臂聚(聚乙二醇)甲基丙烯酸酯(POEGMA)与不同的聚合度(DP)的 24、30、47 引发β-环糊精(β-CD)(3Br-β-CD-POEGMA)。通过动态光散射(DLS)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)和荧光分光光度法研究了 DB 和聚合物组成对这五种星形共聚物自组装性质的影响。有趣的是,与 9 臂和 18 臂配方相比,12 臂星形共聚物自组装的胶束具有更高的稳定性。通过体外药物释放研究评估了所得超分子星形两亲嵌段共聚物作为药物载体的潜力,该研究证实,由于氧化诱导的β-CD/Fc 对的解离和随后星形胶束的胶体稳定性的丧失,载有阿霉素(DOX)的超分子星形胶束中 ROS 触发的药物释放加速。通过体外细胞毒性研究进一步研究了递送功效,结果表明,较高的 DB 和较长的亲水性臂会损害载有 DOX 的超分子星形胶束的治疗效果,导致细胞毒性明显降低,IC 值增加。总的来说,我们的结果表明,通过 DB 和 MW 对亲水性嵌段进行筛选,以优化星形共聚物,应该在稳定性与治疗效果之间进行权衡,以进行全面考虑。因此,测试的最佳配方是具有 POEGMA 的 12 臂星形共聚物。
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