Coordination driven self-assembly for enhancing the biological stability of nobiletin

Abstract

In our previous study, zein nanoparticles (NPs) coupled with tannic acid (TA) and metal ions coatings have been successfully introduced in delivery systems as effective carriers for anticancer drug delivery. Herein, nobiletin (NOB), a kind of low soluble and crystallizable nutraceutical, was encapsulated into these NPs engineered from zein, TA and different metal ions (named ZT-metal NPs) to achieve high loading capacity (LC) and long-term stability. From the result, the maximum load capacity of ZT-metal NPs was achieved at a NOB concentration of 800 μg/mL, much higher than that in zein NPs. Better stabilities of particles after storage were obtained in the nanoparticle formulations with TA and metal ions coatings. The physicochemical characteristics of the formulated NPs were observed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), together with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In vitro release studies illustrated that the ZT-metal NPs obtained the effect of slow release compared with free NOB. Furthermore, NOB-loaded NPs had excellent anticancer bioactivity in H1299 cells at higher NOB concentration. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) demonstrated that the NPs could transport encapsulated molecular into cancer cells effectively. Hence, NOB encapsulated coordination driven self-assembly owned enormous potential as effective hydrophobic nutraceutical delivery vehicles.