Synthesis and characterization of novel amphiphilic copolymer stearic acid-coupled F127 nanoparticles for nano-technology based drug delivery system

Abstract

Pluronic, F127, amphiphilic block copolymers, are used for several applications, including drug delivery systems. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of F127 is about 0.26–0.8 wt% so that the utility of F127 in nano-technology based drug delivery system is limited since the nano-sized micelles could dissociate upon dilution. Herein, stearic acid (SA) was simply coupled to F127 between the carboxyl group of SA and the hydroxyl group of F127, which formed a novel copolymer named as SA-coupled F127, with significantly lower CMC. Above the CMC 6.9 × 10 −5 wt%, SA-coupled F127 self-assembled stable nanoparticles with Zeta potential −36 mV. Doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded nanoparticles were made, with drug loading (DL) 5.7 wt% and Zeta potential −36 to −39 mV, and the nanoparticles exhibited distinct shape with the size distribution from 20 to 50 nm. DOX-loaded nanoparticles were relatively stable and exhibited DOX dependant cytotoxicity toward MCF-7 cells in vitro. These results suggest that SA-coupled F127 potentially could be applied as a nano-technology based drug delivery method.