Biodegradable polymer films for releasing nanovehicles containing sirolimus

Abstract

To obtain novel biodegradable sirolimus-releasing polymer films that could release nanovehicles incorporating sirolimus, polyester, a water-soluble amphiphilic phospholipid polymer, and sirolimus were blended. The sirolimus-releasing polymer films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Nanovehicles were formed with the phospholipid polymer chains and could be released from the sirolimus-releasing polymer films. The hydrodynamic diameter of the nanovehicles in phosphate-buffered saline was smaller than 20 nm. The nanovehicles substantially enhanced the carrier-mediated delivery of sirolimus and attenuated its degradation product. This study demonstrates that the delivery of sirolimus was enhanced by nanovehicles released from sirolimus-eluting materials.

Keywords::

• Drug-eluting stents
• 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine polymer
• sirolimus
• biodegradable polymer film
• nanovehicles

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Mr. J.-H. Seo and Mr. Y. Goto, The University of Tokyo for their technical supports and guidance. One of the authors (H.-I. Kim) thanks for supporting from G-COE program (Center for Medical System Innovation).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.