Polymeric vesicles (Pluronic® L-121) loaded with magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) and an anti-cancer drug (camptothecin) were prepared continuously in a micro mixing device. Characterization by TEM confirmed the successful incorporation of the MNP and DLS measurements showed a relatively narrow size distribution of the hybrid polymersomes. A very high drug loading of camptothecin (100 µg/ml in the polymersome formulation) was reached and a drug release study of loaded magnetic polymersomes has shown a sustained camptothecin release over several days. Carboxylation of Pluronic® L-121 was performed and enabled a further surface functionalization with bombesin, a 14 amino acid peptide, which binds specifically to the GRPR (gastrin releasing peptide receptor). This receptor is often overexpressed in tumor cells (e.g., human prostate cancer cells) and therefore a suitable target for cancer treatment. An additional fluorescence label with Alexa Fluor® 647 allow tracking of the polymersomes e.g., in cell experiments. Relaxivity measurements to evaluate the potential of magnetic polymersomes as MR contrast agent for in vivo imaging are in progress.
Developing polymersomes for drug delivery purposes requires a deeper understanding of their behavior in physiological environment. We performed the self-assembly and in-situ loading of polybutadiene-block-polyethyleneoxide (PB-b-PEO) polymersomes in a continuous process using micromixers. Varying the length and end-groups of the starting block copolymer allows us to control the polymer membrane thickness and surface functionalities (hydroxyl or carboxylic acid), required to realize a further coupling with specific cell targeting ligands. To get a deeper understanding of these polymersomes in physiological environment, we studied the cellular response (HeLa cells) in presence of various polymersomes, and showed by cytotoxicity tests the relative biocompatibility of the systems. Flow cytometry experiments at 4?°C in PBS buffer showed a different behavior of hydroxyl-functionalized vesicles compared to carboxylic acid-functionalized vesicles. On the contrary cell binding in DMEM medium supplemented with 10% FCS was almost completely blocked with both kinds of polymersomes. Protein adsorption measurements by dynamic light scattering confirmed that protein binding occurs in all cases, which apparently influences the particle-cell interaction. This study contributes towards a deeper understanding of polymersomes in biological environment and further investigations will help us to design highly effective polymersomes for in vitro as well as in vivo applications.
The formation of vesicles based on the self-assembly of amphiphilic poly(butadiene)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (PB130-b-PEO66) block copolymer in water has been studied using THF as co-solvent. To obtain a highly controlled mixing process for the polymer/THF- and the water-phase, we employed micro mixers with different mixing geometries. The high impact of this preparation method on the self-assembling process was verified by TEM and DLS characterization of the obtained structures. Spherical micelles, vesicles and worm-like micelles were found depending on the parameters of mixing. By additional parameter adjustment in the vesicle regime, the size of the assembled vesicles was controlled between 45 and 100 nm. This demonstrates the continuous preparation of narrowly distributed vesicle structures with controlled sizes.