In Vitro Evaluation of Amphiphilic Macromolecular Nanocarriers for Systemic Drug Delivery

Abstract

Amphiphilic star-like macromolecules and amphiphilic scorpion-like macromolecules are polymeric micelles capable of water-solubilizing hydrophobic molecules for intravenous injection. In this work, four different amphiphilic macromolecules (M12P5, M6P5, NC12P5, NC6P5) were evaluated using human primary cell lines of the vasculature: human umbilical endothelial cells (HUVEC), umbilical arterial smooth muscle cells (UASM), and normal dermal human fibroblasts (NDHF). The three primary cell types were incubated with culture media containing amphiphilic macromolecules at five concentrations ranging from 10-3 M to 10-7 M at 24, 48, and 72 h. All cell types treated with both amphiphilic macromolecules showed similar cell viability compared to the vehicle control at all concentrations, except at 10-3 M, which showed a substantially lower cell viability. Cells treated with amphiphilic macromolecules also exhibited similar characteristic cell morphologies at all concentrations, except for 10-3 M, which showed distressed cells. The initial screening of amphiphilic macromolecules against primary human cells associated with the vasculature exhibited good biocompatibility.