Wrapping of Drug Assembly with Silica Layer and Confinement through Reversible Linkage with Copper(II) for Glutathione-responsive Nanocapsule

Abstract

Abstract Colloidal nano-assemblies containing doxorubicin (DOX) are prepared for the first time by co-precipitation with gluconate. The spherical assembly is wrapped with a porous silica layer via sol-gel process, and confined in the formed cage by treatment with copper(II) ions (Cu2+). The reversible linking of DOX with Cu2+ is allowed to suppress the leakage of DOX, but quick release is turned on in response to glutathione (GSH). The synthesized stimulus-responsive nanocapsules are characterized, and examined in a release test with/without GSH and applied to living HeLa cells.