Weibing Dong

The dehydration behavior and non-isothermal dehydration kinetics of donepezil hydrochloride monohydrate (Form I)

Powders of donepezil hydrochloride monohydrate (Form I) underwent isomorphic dehydration, losing 3% w/w water between 90% and 10% relative humidity (RH) without changing its powder X-ray pattern. Below 10% RH, additional dehydration occurred in conjunction with a reversible phase transition between the monohydrate state and a dehydrated state, with a 4.0% w/w loss to 0% RH. A combination of methods was used to understand the structural changes occurring during the desolvation process, including dynamic vapor sorption measurements, thermal analysis and powder X-ray diffraction. Form I showed the characteristics of the channel hydrate, whose non-isothermal dehydration behavior proceeds in two steps: (1) the loss of non-crystalline water adsorbed on the surface, and (2) the loss of one crystalline water in the channel. Dehydrated Form I is structurally similar to the monohydrate Form I. According to the heat of fusion and the crystal density criteria, the two crystal forms belonged to the univariant system, and the anhydrate (Form III) is stable. The dehydration kinetics was achieved from the TG-DTG curves by both the Achar method and the Coats-Redfern method with 15 frequently cited basic kinetic models. The dynamic dehydration processes for steps 1 and 2 were best expressed by the Zhuralev-Lesokin-Tempelman equation, suggesting a three-dimensional diffusion-controlled mechanism.

Ultrasound-mediated targeted microbubbles: a new vehicle for cancer therapy

With the hope of overcoming the serious side effects, great endeavor has been made in tumor-targeted chemotherapy, and various drug delivery modalities and drug carriers have been made to decrease systemic toxicity caused by chemotherapeutic agents. Scientists from home and abroad focus on the research of targeted microbubbles contrast agent, and the use of the targeted ultrasound microbubble contrast agent can carry gene drugs and so on to the target tissue, as well as mediated tumor cell apoptosis and tumor microvascular thrombosis block, etc., thus plays the role of targeted therapy. Recent studies have elucidated the mechanisms of drug release and absorption, however, much work remains to be done in order to develop a successful and optimal system. In this review, we summarized the continuing efforts in understanding the usage of the ultrasound triggered target microbubbles in cancer therapy, from release mechanism to preparation methods. The latest applications of ultrasound-triggered targeted microbubbles in cancer therapy, especially in gene therapy and antiangiogenic cancer therapy were discussed. Moreover, we concluded that as a new technology, ultrasound-triggered targeted microbubbles used as drug carriers and imaging agents are still energetic and are very likely to be translated into clinic in the near future.

Template synthesis of PMAA@chitosan hollow nanorods for docetaxel delivery

Nanorods are capable of enhanced intracellular delivery and prolonged blood circulation over their spherical counterparts, and thus can be used as unmatched drug carriers for cancer chemotherapy. An innovative method was developed to synthesize size-tunable, PMAA@chitosan-based, hollow polymeric nanorods for intracellular delivery, by using mesoporous silica nanorod templates. The morphology of the polymeric hollow nanorods was examined by TEM and FT-IR spectra, which indicated a homogeneous three-dimensional structure. An uptake study using human lung carcinoma A-549 cell lines revealed highly efficient cell internalization of the FITC-labeled nanorods, suggesting the potential of utilizing these nanorods as carriers in achieving effective intracellular drug delivery. Cell viability studies of the docetaxel-loaded nanorods yielded consistent results, as the drug-loaded nanorods produced a significantly higher inhibition of the growth of A-549 tumor cells when compared with treatment by free docetaxel. Overall, this preliminary in vitro investigation sheds light on the use of prepared hollow polymeric nanorods for drug delivery applications.

A novel high drug loading mussel-inspired polydopamine hybrid nanoparticle as a pH-sensitive vehicle for drug delivery

A novel high drug loading pH-cleavable polymer hybrid nanoparticle was prepared via doxorubicin (DOX) grafted onto PEGylated, mussel-inspired polydopamine (PDA) and then coated onto hollow silica nanoparticles for drug delivery. A series of characterization shed light on the formation mechanisms of PDA coatings on hollow silica. We hypothesized that dopamine was first absorbed onto the surface of hollow silica and then began self-polymerization. A Dox-containing thiol moiety was fabricated with conjugation between doxorubicin hydrochloride and Mercaptopropionyalkali with a pH-cleavable hydrozone bond. Using a Michael addition reaction, several Dox-containing thiol moieties were grafted onto the surface of the PDA. The drug loading capacity can reach 35.43%. It can minimize the metabolic problem of silica. The released behavior of Dox can be significantly enhanced at endosomal pH compared to physiological pH. After folate modification, nanoparticles can lead to more cellular endocytosis. Meanwhile animal assays showed that more Dox accumulated in tumor tissue, which can enhanced the cytotoxicity to 4T1 cancer cells with a targeting group compared to free DOX and untargeted groups. Meanwhile, the tumor growth was significantly inhibited. This promising material shows a promising future as a drug delivery system.

Tat-functionalized Ag-Fe3O4 nano-composites as tissue-penetrating vehicles for tumor magnetic targeting and drug delivery

In this paper, we prepared a dual functional system based on dextrin-coated silver nanoparticles which were further attached with iron oxide nanoparticles and cell penetrating peptide (Tat), producing Tat-modified Ag-Fe3O4 nanocomposites (Tat-FeAgNPs). To load drugs, an –SH containing linker, 3-mercaptopropanohydrazide, was designed and synthesized. It enabled the silver carriers to load and release doxorubicin (Dox) in a pH-sensitive pattern. The delivery efficiency of this system was assessed in vitro using MCF-7 cells, and in vivo using null BalB/c mice bearing MCF-7 xenograft tumors. Our results demonstrated that both Tat and externally applied magnetic field could promote cellular uptake and consequently the cytotoxicity of doxorubicin-loaded nanoparticles, with the IC50 of Tat-FeAgNP-Dox to be 0.63 µmol/L. The in vivo delivery efficiency of Tat-FeAgNP carrying Cy5 to the mouse tumor was analyzed using the in vivo optical imaging tests, in which Tat-FeAgNP-Cy5 yielded the most efficient accumulation in the tumor (6.7±2.4% ID of Tat-FeAgNPs). Anti-tumor assessment also demonstrated that Tat-FeAgNP-Dox displayed the most significant tumor-inhibiting effects and reduced the specific growth rate of tumor by 29.6% (P = 0.009), which could be attributed to its superior performance in tumor drug delivery in comparison with the control nanovehicles.