A stimuli-responsive mechanism of drug delivery using invertible micellar assemblies (IMAs) formed via self-assembly of amphiphilic invertible polymers (AIPs) was established. The IMA capability to solubilize lipophilic drugs, and deliver and release the cargo molecules by conformational inversion of polymer macromolecules in response to a change of the polarity of the environment was demonstrated by loading IMA with curcumin, a phytochemical drug. Four sets of micellar vehicles based on different AIPs successfully delivered curcumin from water to an organic medium (1-octanol). Analysis of heterogeneous mixtures before and after the drug transfer revealed that the majority of curcumin was delivered by means of AIP conformational inversion in response to changing polarity from polar (aqueous solution before the transfer) to nonpolar (1-octanol phase after the transfer). The loaded IMAs are non-toxic against human cells up to a concentration of 10 mg/L, while being cytotoxic to breast carcinoma cells at this concentration.

Environment-driven mechanism of drug release from invertible polymeric micellar assemblies

245th National Meeting (2013)

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