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Hollow silica–polyelectrolyte composite nanoparticles for controlled drug delivery

  • Materials for life sciences
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Abstract

The stimulus-responsive drug delivery system has attracted increasing attention due to its ability to enhance therapeutic efficacy and reduce side effects. Herein, a pH and glutathione (GSH) dually responsive drug carrier, hollow silica–-polyelectrolyte composite nanoparticle, was successfully prepared by using a template of spherical polyelectrolyte brush (SPB) which consists of a polystyrene (PS) core and a densely grafted linear poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) shell. The existence of PAA chains and introduction of disulfide bonds in silica framework endow the composite nanoparticles with pH and GSH dually responsive properties which were confirmed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). With doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) as the model drug, the loading content and encapsulation efficiency could reach up to 43% and 96%, respectively. The drug release behavior was investigated under various environments, showing that the drug release rate increased with the decrease in pH value and the increase in GSH concentration. The prepared hollow SiO2–PAA composite nanoparticles possess a great potential as carriers for controlled drug delivery.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully thank the financial support by the NSFC Grants (5171101370, 51773061 and 21476143) and 111 Project Grant (B08021). We also thank Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility for its experimental support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 200237, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Qingsong Yang, Li Li, Fang Zhao, Haoya Han, Yuchuan Tian, Yunwei Wang, Zhishuang Ye & Xuhong Guo

  2. The Alle Chemical Company, 266000, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China

    Weihua Wang

  3. Engineering Research Center of Materials Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, Shihezi University, 832000, Xinjiang, People’s Republic of China

    Xuhong Guo

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  1. Qingsong Yang
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  2. Li Li
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Correspondence to Li Li or Xuhong Guo.

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Yang, Q., Li, L., Zhao, F. et al. Hollow silica–polyelectrolyte composite nanoparticles for controlled drug delivery. J Mater Sci 54, 2552–2565 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2996-7

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