Preparation and Characterization of Redox-Sensitive Pluronic F127-Based Nanogel as Effective Nanocarrier for Drug Delivery

Abstract

An emerging approach in development of nanocarriers for the delivery of hydrophobic anticancer drugs has recently been paid much attention. In this study, a redox-sensitive Heparin-ss-Pluronic F127 (Hep-ss-Plu127) nanogel was fabricated for paclitaxel (PTX) delivery. In the synthetic process, Plu127 was mono-activated by 4-Nitrophenyl chloroformate (NPC) and conjugated with Hep via redox-sensitive disulfide bond of cystamine. The chemical structure of the resulting product was characterized by fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy. The PTX-loaded Hep-ss-Plu127 nanogels were formed by solvent dialysis method and showed the hydrodynamic diameter of 91.4 ± 0.3 nm, determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS) instrument. Size and morphology of PTX-loaded Hep-ss-Plu127 nanogels were shown to be 104 nm and spherical in shape by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In addition, PTX was effectively encapsulated into Hep-ss-Plu127 nanogels, which was around 66.2 ± 4.7% for drug loading efficiency and 13.2 ± 0.9% for drug loading content, determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Overall, the redox-sensitive Pluronic F127-based nanogel was successfully synthesized and could be an effective nanocarrier that holds a great potential to enhance the redox responsiveness and efficacy for the delivery of PTX in cancer treatment.