Doxorubicin-containing microparticles comprising cinnamoyl gelatin-folic acid conjugate, cinnamoyl Pluronic F127, and cinnamoyl poly(β-cyclodextrin)

ABSTRACT

Microparticles comprising of cinnamoyl gelatin (type A) (CA-GelA), cinnamoyl gelatin (type B) (CA-GelB), cinnamoyl Pluronic F127 (CA-Plu), and cinnamoyl poly(β-cyclodextrin) (CA-P(βCD)) were prepared as a carrier for doxorubicin (DOX). Folic acid (FA) was covalently attached to CA-GelA as a targeting molecule for cancer cells. The covalent attachment of FA was confirmed by ¹H-NMR spectroscopy. On the TEM micrographs, the microparticles were almost circular and they were a few hundreds of nanometers in diameter. The release at pH7.4 of DOX from microparticle/DOX suspension was more extensive when the FA content of microparticles was lower and the temperature of release medium was higher. According to the flow cytometric analysis, the lager amount of FA seemed to make the interaction of the microparticle and KB cell more favorable. On confocal laser fluorescence micrograph, the cell treated with microparticle bearing FA showed relatively strong DOX fluorescence, indicating the strong interaction of the microparticle and KB cells.

KEYWORDS:

• Doxorubicin
• folic acid
• KB cell
• microparticle
• targeting

Funding

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2013R1A1A2007898).