Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, 10607, Taiwan.
Graduate Institute of Biomedical Optomechatronics, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, 110, Taiwan.
Small. 2023 May;19(20):e2206813. doi: 10.1002/smll.202206813. Epub 2023 Feb 2.
One of the major challenges on the way to low-cost, simple, and effective cancer treatments is the lack of smart anticancer drug delivery materials with the requisite of site-specific and microenvironment-responsive properties. This work reports the development of plasma-engineered smart drug nanocarriers (SDNCs) containing chitosan and nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) for drug delivery in a pH-responsive manner. Through a customized microplasma processing, a highly cross-linked SDNC with only 4.5% of NGQD ratio can exhibit enhanced toughness up to threefold higher than the control chitosan group, avoiding the commonly used high temperatures and toxic chemical cross-linking agents. The SDNCs demonstrate improved loading capability for doxorubicin (DOX) via π-π interactions and stable solid-state photoluminescence to monitor the DOX loading and release through the Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) mechanism. Moreover, the DOX loaded SDNC exhibits anticancer effects against cancer cells during cytotoxicity tests at minimum concentration. Cellular uptake studies confirm that the DOX loaded SDNC can be successfully internalized into the nucleus after 12 h incubation period. This work provides new insights into the development of smart, environmental-friendly, and biocompatible nanographene hydrogels for the next-generation biomedical applications.
在寻求低成本、简单且有效的癌症治疗方法的过程中，面临的主要挑战之一是缺乏具有所需的靶向和微环境响应特性的智能抗癌药物输送材料。本工作报道了载有壳聚糖和氮掺杂石墨烯量子点（NGQDs）的等离子体工程智能药物纳米载体（SDNC）的开发，用于以 pH 响应的方式进行药物输送。通过定制的微等离子体处理，具有仅 4.5%NGQD 比例的高交联 SDNC 可以表现出高达三倍于对照壳聚糖组的增强韧性，避免了常用的高温和有毒化学交联剂。SDNC 通过π-π 相互作用表现出对阿霉素（DOX）的增强负载能力，并通过Förster 共振能量转移（FRET）机制具有稳定的固态光致发光，以监测 DOX 的负载和释放。此外，在细胞毒性测试中，载有 DOX 的 SDNC 在最低浓度下对癌细胞表现出抗癌作用。细胞摄取研究证实，载有 DOX 的 SDNC 在 12 小时孵育期后可以成功内化到细胞核中。这项工作为下一代生物医学应用中智能、环保和生物相容的纳米石墨烯水凝胶的开发提供了新的思路。
