Multisensitive Polymeric Nanocontainers as Drug Delivery Systems: Biological Evaluation

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the in vitro biological evaluation of multisensitive nanocontainers as drug delivery systems for cancer treatment. Cancer tissues possess some unique characteristics such as increased temperature due to inflammation, thermal vulnerability (40–45 °C), low cellular pH, and redox instabilities. The employment of polymers bearing pH, thermo, and/or redox sensitivities in the synthesis of hollow polymeric nanostructures has led to the formulation of a variety of drug delivery vehicles that are capable of targeted delivery and trigger specific drug release. The cavity in the structure allows for the encapsulation of anticancer drugs as well as other moieties with anticancer activity, like iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles. The drug loading and release capability of the nanocontainers is evaluated prior to biological studies in order to determine the concentration of the drug in the structure. The in vitro assessment includes cytotoxicity studies, quantitatively through the colorimetric MTT assay as well as qualitatively via the scratch-wound healing assay, on both cancer and healthy cell lines. The cellular localization of the studied drug-loaded and unloaded nanocontainers is determined through confocal fluorescence microscopy.