Polysaccharide-Based Lotus Seedpod Surface-Like Porous Microsphere as an Efficient Drug Carrier for Cancer Treatment

Figures & data

Figure 1 PPM synthesis process diagram. (A) Water and oil mixture were stirred to form inverse emulsion. Polysaccharide large emulsion droplets were evenly dispersed in the oil phase. (B) The crosslinker CaCl₂ solution was added to the emulsion and formed tiny emulsion droplets. A crosslinking reaction was performed between polysaccharide droplets and tiny crosslinker droplets. (C) After freezing and drying, PPMs were finally obtained.

Figure 2 Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy of PPM and PPM/MMC (MMC-loaded PPM).

Table 1 Average Size and Zeta Potential of PPM and MMC-Loaded PPM Obtained by Particle Analyzer

Materials	Average Size (μm)	Zeta Potential (mV)
PPM	25.90±0.34	-13.21±0.10
PPM/MMC	30.10±0.20	-14.20±0.30

Note: Mean±SEM (standard error of mean).

Abbreviations: PPM, polysaccharide-based porous microsphere; MMC, mitomycin-C.

Figure 3 Scanning electron microscope analysis morphology of (A) PPM and (B) MMC-loaded PPM.

Figure 4 (A) Drug release results of the free MMC and MMC-loaded PPM at different pH. ^$p<0.05, compared with free MMC group at pH 6.5. **p<0.01, compared with free MMC group at pH 6.5. ^#p<0.05, compared with PPM/MMC group at pH 6.5; ^##p<0.01, compared with free MMC group at pH 7.4. (B) Cell viability rate of A549 co-cultured with free MMC, MMC-loaded PPM and free PPM at different concentrations for 24 h was assessed by CCK-8. **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 and ****p<0.0001, compared with control group (0 μg/mL); ^#p<0.05, ^##p<0.01 and ^###p<0.001, compared with free MMC group.

Figure 5 (A) Apoptosis experiment results of A549 co-cultured with free MMC for 24 h at different concentrations. (B) Apoptosis experiment results of A549 co-cultured with PPM alone for 24 h at different concentrations. (C) Apoptosis experiment results of A549 co-cultured with MMC-loaded PPM for 24 h at different concentrations. *p<0.05 and ***p<0.001, compared with control group.

Figure 6 (A) The tumor volume of C57BL/6 nude mice on the 21st day. (B) Tumor volume of mice was detected after different treatments (saline, free MMC, PPM alone, and MMC-loaded PPM) (n=4 per group). (C) Tumor weight of mice was determined after different treatments. ***p<0.001 and ****p<0.0001, compared with control group. ^###p<0.001, compared with free MMC group.