Mussel inspired protein-mediated surface functionalization of electrospun nanofibers for pH-responsive drug delivery

摘要

pH-responsive drug delivery systems could mediate drug releasing rate by changing pH values at specific time as per the pathophysiological need of the disease. Herein, we demonstrated a mussel inspired protein polydopamine coating can tune the loading and releasing rate of charged molecules from electrospun poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) nanofibers in solutions with different pH values. In vitro release profiles showed that the positive charged molecules released significantly faster in acidic than those in neutral and basic environments within the same incubation time. The results of fluorescein diacetate staining and 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays showed the viability of cancer cells after treatment with doxorubicin released media at different pH values qualitatively and quantitatively, indicating the media contained doxorubicin which was released in solutions at low pH values could kill significantly higher number of cells than that released in solutions at high pH values. Together, the pH-responsive drug delivery systems based on polydopamine-coated PCL nanofibers could have potential applications in oral delivery of anticancer drugs for treating gastric cancer and vaginal delivery of anti-viral drugs or anti-inflammatory drugs, which could raise their efficacy, deliver them to the specific target, and minimize their toxic side effects.