TRIGGERED DRUG DELIVERY OF CUBOSOME FUNCTIONALIZED WITH BIOPOLYMERS

Drug delivery nanoparticles are of high interest to medicine and pharmaceutical industry for upgrading the treatment of many diseases by minimizing nonspecific toxicity and improving therapeutics success. A relatively new strategy for nano drug delivery is the use of cubosome, which is a nanoparticle of crystalline structure formed by lipid bilayers, with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic nanochannels, provides high surface area for encapsulation of diverse drugs and bioactives. We develop a cubosome functionalized with a biopolymers-shell1 for delivery of acemannan,2 a bioactive extracted from aloe vera which has immunomodulation properties, and epirubicin, an anticancer drug used in chemotherapy. The cubosome was produced with monoolein as lipid and Pluronic F127 as stabilizer, adding chitosan-N-arginine, alginate and acemannan or epirubicin. The encapsulation of acemannan and epirubicin was highly effective and delivery was attenuated and sustained in gastric and intestinal simulated pHs. The biopolymers-shell-cubosome has pH-responsive characteristics profitable for oral delivery, and strongly interacts with serum albumin,3 a protein which is released in the stomach under gastric cancer conditions. The structural monitoring unveiled essential alterations in the internal liquid crystalline topology of the nanoparticles, including Im3m to Pn3m transition and a reduction of the cubic lattice parameters due the interaction with albumin, leading to release of aqueous content from the cubosomal nanochannels.3 The studies indicate a high potential of the functionalized cubosome as triggering material for delivery of drugs and bioactives.