Lipid cubic phase with an organic-inorganic hybrid structure formed by organoalkoxysilane lipid

A lipid cubic phase encompassing a cross-linked siloxane structure was formed by the self-assembly of a synthetic organoalkoxysilane lipid in water. The spontaneous sol-gel reaction of the alkoxysilane moiety on the lipid head group produced an organic-inorganic hybrid material with a double gyroid Ia3d cubic structure.

The Formation of Morphologically Stable Lipid Nanocarriers for Glioma Therapy

Cerasomes are a promising modification of liposomes with covalent siloxane networks on the surface that provide outstanding morphological stability while maintaining all the useful traits of liposomes. Herein, thin film hydration and ethanol sol injection methods were utilized to produce cerasomes of various composition, which were then evaluated for the purpose of drug delivery. The most promising nanoparticles obtained by the thin film method were studied closely using MTT assay, flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy on T98G glioblastoma cell line and modified with surfactants to achieve stability and the ability to bypass the blood-brain barrier. An antitumor agent, paclitaxel, was loaded into cerasomes, which increased its potency and demonstrated increased ability to induce apoptosis in T98G glioblastoma cell culture. Cerasomes loaded with fluorescent dye rhodamine B demonstrated significantly increased fluorescence in brain slices of Wistar rats compared to free rhodamine B. Thin film hydration with Tween 80 addition was established as a more reliable and versatile method for cerasome preparation. Cerasomes increased the antitumor action of paclitaxel toward T98G cancer cells by a factor of 36 and were able to deliver rhodamine B over the blood-brain barrier in rats.

Highly stable near-infrared dye conjugated cerasomes for fluorescence imaging-guided synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy of colorectal cancer

Dye-conjugated cerasome loaded with DOX exhibited high stability and controllable drug release, holding great promise in colorectal cancer photothermal chemotherapy.

Nanohybrid liposomal cerasomes with good physiological stability and rapid temperature responsiveness for high intensity focused ultrasound triggered local chemotherapy of cancer

The high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and thermosensitive cerasomes (HTSCs) were successfully assembled by employing cerasome-forming lipid (CFL) in combination with the component lipids of conventional low temperature sensitive liposomes (LTSLs) including 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC), 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[methoxy(polyethylene glycol)-2000] (DSPE-PEG-2000) and 1-stearoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (MSPC). The HTSCs showed spherical shape with a mean diameter around 200 nm, exhibiting good biocompatibility. Both hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs can be efficiently encapsulated into HTSCs. In addition, the release rate of HTSCs could be conveniently adjusted by varying the molar ratios of CFL to DPPC. The drug loaded HTSCs showed much longer blood circulation time (half-life >8.50 ± 1.49 h) than conventional LTSLs (0.92 ± 0.17 h). An in vitro study demonstrated that the drug loaded HTSCs are highly stable at 37 °C and show a burst release at 42 °C, providing a capability to act synergistically against tumors. We found that the HTSCs with a proportion of 43.25% of CFL could release more than 90% hydrophilic drugs in 1 min at an elevated temperature of 42 °C generated by HIFU exposure. After intravenous injection of doxorubicin (DOX) loaded HTSCs at 5 mg DOX/kg, followed by double HIFU sonication, the tumor growth of the adenocarcinoma (MDA-MB-231) bearing mice could be significantly inhibited. Therefore, the drug loaded HTSCs combined with HIFU hold great potential for efficient local chemotherapy of cancer due to the ability to deliver high concentration of chemotherapy drugs directly to the tumor, achieve maximum therapeutic efficacy and minimal side effects, and avoid the damage to the healthy tissues caused by systemic administration of drugs.

Recent progress in designing shell cross-linked polymer capsules for drug delivery

This tutorial review highlights the progress made during recent years in the development of the shell cross-linked (SCL) polymer nanocapsules and the impact of the most important scientific ideas on this field of knowledge.

Design and synthesis of lipidic organoalkoxysilanes for the self-assembly of liposomal nanohybrid cerasomes with controlled drug release properties

This paper reports the facile design and synthesis of a series of lipidic organoalkoxysilanes with different numbers of triethoxysilane headgroups and hydrophobic alkyl chains linked by glycerol and pentaerythritol for the construction of cerasomes with regulated surface siloxane density and controlled release behavior. It was found that the number of triethoxysilane headgroups affected the properties of the cerasomes for encapsulation efficiency, drug loading capacity, and release behavior. For both water-soluble doxorubicin (DOX) and water-insoluble paclitaxel (PTX), the release rate from the cerasomes decreased as the number of triethoxysilane headgroups increased. The slower release rate from the cerasomes was attributed to the higher density of the siloxane network on the surface of the cerasomes, which blocks the drug release channels. In contrast to the release results with DOX, the introduction of one more hydrophobic alkyl chain into the cerasome-forming lipid resulted in a slower release rate of PTX from the cerasomes due to the formation of a more compact cerasome bilayer. An MTT viability assay showed that all of these drug-loaded cerasomes inhibited proliferation of the HepG2 cancer cell line. The fine tuning of the chemical structure of the cerasome-forming lipids would foster a new strategy to precisely regulate the release rate of drugs from cerasomes.