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Patel D, Tripathi N, Vaswani P, Pérez-Sánchez G, Bhatia D, Kuperkar K, Coutinho JAP, Bahadur P. Role of Unimers to Polymersomes Transition in Pluronic Blends for Controlled and Designated Drug Conveyance. J Phys Chem B 2024; 128:6151-6166. [PMID: 38845485 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.4c00561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2024]
Abstract
This study investigates the nanoscale self-assembly from mixtures of two symmetrical poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-pol(ethylene oxide) (PEO-PPO-PEO) block copolymers (BCPs) with different lengths of PEO blocks and similar PPO blocks. The blended BCPs (commercially known as Pluronic F88 and L81, with 80 and 10% PEO, respectively) exhibited rich phase behavior in an aqueous solution. The relative viscosity (ηrel) indicated significant variations in the flow behavior, ranging from fluidic to viscous, thereby suggesting a possible micellar growth or morphological transition. The tensiometric experiments provided insight into the intermolecular hydrophobic interactions at the liquid-air interface favoring the surface activity of mixed-system micellization. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) revealed the varied structural morphologies of these core-shell mixed micelles and polymersomes formed under different conditions. At a concentration of ≤5% w/v, Pluronic F88 exists as molecularly dissolved unimers or Gaussian chains. However, the addition of the very hydrophobic Pluronic L81, even at a much lower (<0.2%) concentration, induced micellization and promoted micellar growth/transition. These results were further substantiated through molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, employing a readily transferable coarse-grained (CG) molecular model grounded in the MARTINI force field with density and solvent-accessible surface area (SASA) profiles. These findings proved that F88 underwent micellar growth/transition in the presence of L81. Furthermore, the potential use of these Pluronic mixed micelles as nanocarriers for the anticancer drug quercetin (QCT) was explored. The spectral analysis provided insight into the enhanced solubility of QCT through the assessment of the standard free energy of solubilization (ΔG°), drug-loading efficiency (DL%), encapsulation efficiency (EE%), and partition coefficient (P). A detailed optimization of the drug release kinetics was presented by employing various kinetic models. The [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] MTT assay, a frequently used technique for assessing cytotoxicity in anticancer research, was used to gauge the effectiveness of these QCT-loaded mixed nanoaggregates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Divya Patel
- Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Ichchhanath, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India
| | - Nitumani Tripathi
- Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Ichchhanath, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India
| | - Payal Vaswani
- Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGn), Palaj, Gandhinagar 382 355, Gujarat, India
| | - Germán Pérez-Sánchez
- CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Aveiro 3810-1933, Portugal
| | - Dhiraj Bhatia
- Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGn), Palaj, Gandhinagar 382 355, Gujarat, India
| | - Ketan Kuperkar
- Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Ichchhanath, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India
| | - João A P Coutinho
- CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Aveiro 3810-1933, Portugal
| | - Pratap Bahadur
- Department of Chemistry, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU), Udhana-Magdalla Road, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India
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Patel D, Vaswani P, Ray D, Bhatia D, Aswal VK, Kuperkar K, Bahadur P. Additive-anchored thermoresponsive nanoscale self-assembly generation in normal and reverse Tetronics®. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:6372-6385. [PMID: 38315058 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp06329a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
Self-assembly of ethylene oxide (EO)-propylene oxide (PO)-based star-shaped block copolymers (BCPs) in the presence of different kinds of additives is investigated in an aqueous solution environment. Commercially available four-armed BCPs, namely Tetronics® (normal: T904 with EO as the terminal end block; and reverse: T90R4 with PO as the terminal end block), each with 40%EO, are used. The effect of various additives such as electrolytes (NaCl and Na2SO4), nonelectrolyte polyols (glucose and sorbitol), and ionic surfactants (viz. anionic-sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cationic-dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) and zwitterionic dodecyldimethylammonium propane sulfonate (C12PS)) on these BCPs is examined to observe their influence on micellization behaviour. The presence of salts and polyols displayed interesting phase behaviour, i.e., the cloud point (CP) was decreased, the water structure was affected and the micelles were dehydrated by expelling water molecules, and thus they were likely to promote micelle formation/growth. In contrast, ionic surfactants in small amounts interacted with the BCPs and showed an increase in CPs thereby forming mixed micelles with increasing charges and decreasing micellar sizes, finally transforming to small surfactant-rich mixed micelles. Molecular interactions such as electrostatic and hydrogen bonding involved within the examined entities are put forth employing a computational simulation approach using the Gaussian 09 window for calculation along with the GaussView 5.0.9 programming software using the (DFT)/B3LYP method and 3-21G basis set. The hydrodynamic diameter (Dh) of the micelles is examined using dynamic light scattering (DLS), while the various micellar parameters inferring the shape/geometry are obtained using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) by the best fitting of the structure factors. It is observed that 10 w/v% T904 remains as spherical micelles with some micellar growth under physiological conditions (37 °C), while 10 w/v% T90R4 remains as unimers and forms spherical micelles in the presence of additives at 37 °C. Furthermore, the additive-induced micellar systems are tested as developing nanovehicles for anticancer (curcumin, Cur) drug solubilization using UV-vis spectroscopy, which shows a prominent increase in absorbance with enhanced solubilization capacity. Additionally, the cytotoxic effect of Cur loaded on the BCP micelles in HeLa cells is studied through confocal microscopy by capturing fluorescence images that depict HeLa cell growth inhibition under the influence of additive-induced micellar systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dhruvi Patel
- Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Ichchhanath, Surat-395 007, Gujarat, India.
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14850, NY, USA
| | - Payal Vaswani
- Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGn), Gandhinagar-382 355, Palaj, Gujarat, India
| | - Debes Ray
- Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay, Mumbai-400 085, Maharashtra, India
- Biomacromolecular Systems and Processes, Institute of Biological Information Processing, Forschungszentrum Julich, 52428, Germany
| | - Dhiraj Bhatia
- Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGn), Gandhinagar-382 355, Palaj, Gujarat, India
| | - Vinod K Aswal
- Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay, Mumbai-400 085, Maharashtra, India
| | - Ketan Kuperkar
- Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Ichchhanath, Surat-395 007, Gujarat, India.
| | - Pratap Bahadur
- Department of Chemistry, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU), Surat-395 007, Gujarat, India
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Anilkumar A, Dutta Choudhury S. Self-assembly of Reverse Poloxamine Induced by Saccharide Excipients: Insights from Fluorescence. J Mol Liq 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2023.121792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/05/2023]
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Patel D, Pérez-Sánchez G, Jorge M, Ray D, Aswal VK, Kuperkar K, Coutinho JAP, Bahadur P. Rationalizing the Design of Pluronics-Surfactant Mixed Micelles through Molecular Simulations and Experiments. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2023; 39:2692-2709. [PMID: 36763753 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c03176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Aqueous systems comprising polymers and surfactants are technologically important complex fluids with tunable features dependent on the chemical nature of each constituent, overall composition in mixed systems, and solution conditions. The phase behavior and self-assembly of amphiphilic polymers can be changed drastically in the presence of conventional ionic surfactants and need to be clearly understood. Here, the self-aggregation dynamics of a triblock copolymer (Pluronics L81, EO3PO43EO3) in the presence of three cationic surfactants (with a 12C long alkyl chain but with different structural features), viz., dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB), and ethanediyl-1,2-bis(dimethyldodecylammonium bromide) (12-2-12), were investigated in an aqueous solution environment. The nanoscale micellar size expressed as hydrodynamic diameter (Dh) of copolymer-surfactant mixed aggregates was evaluated using dynamic light scattering, while the presence of a varied micellar geometry of L81-cationic surfactant mixed micelles were probed using small-angle neutron scattering. The obtained findings were further validated from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, employing a simple and transferable coarse-grained molecular model based on the MARTINI force field. L81 remained molecularly dissolved up to ∼20 °C but phase separated, forming turbid/translucent dispersion, close to its cloud point (CP) and existed as unstable vesicles. However, it exhibited interesting solution behavior expressed in terms of the blue point (BP) and the double CP in the presence of different surfactants, leading to mixed micellar systems with a triggered morphology transition from unstable vesicles to polymer-rich micelles and cationic surfactant-rich micelles. Such an amendment in the morphology of copolymer nanoaggregates in the presence of cationic surfactants has been well observed from scattering data. This is further rationalized employing the MD approach, which validated the effective interactions between Pluronics-cationic surfactant mixed micelles. Thus, our experimental results integrated with MD yield a deep insight into the nanoscale interactions controlling the micellar aggregation (Pluronics-rich micelles and surfactant-rich micelles) in the investigated mixed system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Divya Patel
- Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Ichchhanath, Surat, Gujarat 395 007, India
| | - Germán Pérez-Sánchez
- CICECO─Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Aveiro 3810-1933, Portugal
| | - Miguel Jorge
- Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Strathclyde, 75 Montrose Street, Glassgow G1 1XJ, U.K
| | - Debes Ray
- Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400 085, India
- Biomacromolecular Systems and Processes, Institute of Biological Information Processing, Forschungszentrum Julich, Julich 52428, Germany
| | - Vinod K Aswal
- Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400 085, India
| | - Ketan Kuperkar
- Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Ichchhanath, Surat, Gujarat 395 007, India
| | - João A P Coutinho
- CICECO─Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Aveiro 3810-1933, Portugal
| | - Pratap Bahadur
- Department of Chemistry, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU), Udhana-Magdalla Road, Surat, Gujarat 395 007, India
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Thermoresponsive phase behavior and nanoscale self-assembly generation in normal and reverse Pluronics®. Colloid Polym Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s00396-022-05039-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Kuperkar K, Patel D, Atanase LI, Bahadur P. Amphiphilic Block Copolymers: Their Structures, and Self-Assembly to Polymeric Micelles and Polymersomes as Drug Delivery Vehicles. Polymers (Basel) 2022; 14:4702. [PMID: 36365696 PMCID: PMC9657626 DOI: 10.3390/polym14214702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Revised: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 10/28/2022] [Indexed: 07/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers display a multiplicity of nanoscale periodic patterns proposed as a dominant tool for the 'bottom-up' fabrication of nanomaterials with different levels of ordering. The present review article focuses on the recent updates to the self-association of amphiphilic block copolymers in aqueous media into varied core-shell morphologies. We briefly describe the block copolymers, their types, microdomain formation in bulk and micellization in selective solvents. We also discuss the characteristic features of block copolymers nanoaggregates viz., polymer micelles (PMs) and polymersomes. Amphiphilic block copolymers (with a variety of hydrophobic blocks and hydrophilic blocks; often polyethylene oxide) self-assemble in water to micelles/niosomes similar to conventional nonionic surfactants with high drug loading capacity. Double hydrophilic block copolymers (DHBCs) made of neutral block-neutral block or neutral block-charged block can transform one block to become hydrophobic under the influence of a stimulus (physical/chemical/biological), and thus induced amphiphilicity and display self-assembly are discussed. Different kinds of polymer micelles (viz. shell and core-cross-linked, core-shell-corona, schizophrenic, crew cut, Janus) are presented in detail. Updates on polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) and crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA) are also provided. Polyion complexes (PICs) and polyion complex micelles (PICMs) are discussed. Applications of these block copolymeric micelles and polymersomes as nanocarriers in drug delivery systems are described.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ketan Kuperkar
- Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Ichchhanath, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India
| | - Dhruvi Patel
- Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Ichchhanath, Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India
| | - Leonard Ionut Atanase
- Faculty of Medical Dentistry, “Apollonia” University of Iasi, 700511 Iasi, Romania
- Academy of Romanian Scientists, 050045 Bucharest, Romania
| | - Pratap Bahadur
- Department of Chemistry, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU), Surat 395 007, Gujarat, India
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Patel D, Bhojani AK, Ray D, Singh DK, Bhattacharjee S, Seth D, Aswal VK, Kuperkar K, Bahadur P. Glucose-induced self-assembly and phase separation in hydrophilic triblock copolymers and the governing mechanism. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:21141-21156. [PMID: 36039741 DOI: 10.1039/d2cp01909d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Poly(ethylene oxide, EO)-poly(propylene oxide, PO)-poly(ethylene oxide, EO)-based triblock copolymers (BCPs) with 80% hydrophilicity stay molecularly dissolved as Gaussian chains at ambient temperature, even at fairly high concentrations (>5 %w/v). This study presents the plausible micellization behaviour of such very-hydrophilic Pluronics® - F38, F68, F88, F98, and F108 - incited upon the addition of glucose at low concentrations and temperatures. The outcomes obtained from phase behaviour and scattering studies are described. At temperatures near to ambient temperature, these BCPs form micelles with a central core made of a PO block, surrounded by a corona of highly hydrated EO chains. The phase transitions in these hydrophilic Pluronics® in the presence of glucose are demonstrated via the dehydration of the copolymer coil, leading to a decrease in the I1/I3 ratio, as determined using fluorescence spectroscopy. The temperature-dependent cloud point (CP) showed a marked decrease with an increase in the PO molecular weight and also in the presence of glucose. The change in solution relative viscosity (ηrel) caused by glucose is due to the enhanced dehydration of the EO block of the BCP amphiphile. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) investigations suggested that the dimensions of the hydrophobic core increase during the dehydration of the EO-PO blocks upon a temperature increase or after adding varying concentrations of glucose, thereby resulting in a micellar shape transition. It has been observed that added glucose influences the phase behaviour of BCPs in an analogous way to the influence of temperature. Also, plausible interactions between the EO-PO blocks and glucose were suggested based on the evaluated optimized descriptors obtained from a computational simulation approach. In addition, the core-shell blended micelles obtained using these BCPs are successfully utilized for drug (curcumin, Cur) solubilization based on the observed peak intensities from UV-visible spectroscopy. The loading of Cur into glucose-containing and glucose-free hydrophilic Pluronic® micelles shows how the radius of the micellar core (Rc) increases in the presence of glucose, thereby indicating Cur solubility enhancement for the Pluronic® micelles. Various kinetics models were employed, demonstrating a drug release profile that enables this approach to be used as an ideal platform for drug delivery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Divya Patel
- Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Ichchhanath, Surat-395 007, Gujarat, India.
| | - Amit K Bhojani
- Department of Basic Sciences, Institute of Infrastructure Technology Research and Management (IITRAM), Ahmedabad-380 026, India
| | - Debes Ray
- Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay, Mumbai, 400 085, Maharashtra, India
| | - Dheeraj K Singh
- Department of Basic Sciences, Institute of Infrastructure Technology Research and Management (IITRAM), Ahmedabad-380 026, India
| | - Sanyukta Bhattacharjee
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Patna (IITP), Bihta, Patna, 801 106, Bihar, India
| | - Debabrata Seth
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Patna (IITP), Bihta, Patna, 801 106, Bihar, India
| | - Vinod K Aswal
- Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay, Mumbai, 400 085, Maharashtra, India
| | - Ketan Kuperkar
- Department of Chemistry, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Ichchhanath, Surat-395 007, Gujarat, India.
| | - Pratap Bahadur
- Department of Chemistry, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU), Udhana-Magdalla Road, Surat-395 007, Gujarat, India
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