Journal article

Degradable, surfactant-free, monodisperse polymer-encapsulated emulsions as anticancer drug carriers

S Sivakumar, V Bansal, C Cortez, SF Chong, AN Zelikin, F Caruso

Advanced Materials | WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH | Published : 2009

Abstract

Various methods based on the encapsulation of drug-loaded oleic acid emulsions within 0.5 and 1 μm diameter PMA capsules for the degradable, surfactant free, monodisperse polymer-encapsulated emulsions as anticancer drug carriers are reported. The capsules are found to be redox-responsive in vitro release of encapsulated Dox under reducing conditions, presenting a novel drug-carrier system for lipophilic drugs that would otherwise have restricted accessibility to tumors when injected in the aqueous blood stream. The PMA capsules were dehydrated in ethanol and dispersed in a drug/oleic acid mixture to allow infiltration of the oil phase through the semi-permeable walls of the polymer capsules..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the ARC Linkage International Materials World Network, ARC Discovery, and ARC Federation Fellowship schemes, and the NHMRC via a Project grant. We thank Y. Yan and R. R. Chandrawati for assistance with the IC50 measurements. The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Parkville, Melbourne, is acknowledged for providing cells and for the use of the tissue culture facility. We thank N. L. Abbott (University of Wisconsin-Madison) for helpful discussions on the preparation of the emulsion droplets. We also acknowledge the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Division of Molecular and Health Technologies, Parkville, for the use of the Nanodrop instrument. The Particulate Fluids Processing Center (PFPC) is acknowledged for infrastructure support.