Sustained release properties of liquid crystal functionalized poly (amino acid)s nanoparticles

Abstract

Drug-loaded nanoparticles can lower the adverse effects of antitumor drugs and have good biosafety. Herein, a series of amphiphilic poly (amino acid)s materials were designed to prepare drug-loaded nanoparticles by physical encapsulation and chemical bonding. The introduction of cholesterol makes the material show the properties of liquid crystal, and facilitates the regular arrangement of macromolecules so that it can be well self-assembled. The morphologies with different shapes in different environments such as spheres or rod were observed. CCK-8 experiment proved the synthesized material was low-toxic to normal cells, and had significant targeting and proliferation inhibition of cancer cells. Nanoparticles entered cells slowly through endocytosis and interact with lysosomes to release drugs. Drug release in vitro shows that the nanoparticles have temperature/pH dual responsiveness.