Ellipsoidal Polyaspartamide Polymersomes with Enhanced Cell-Targeting Ability.

ABSTRACT: Nano-sized polymersomes functionalized with peptides or proteins are being increasingly studied for targeted delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic molecules. Earlier computational studies have suggested that ellipsoidal nanoparticles, compared to spherical ones, display enhanced binding efficiency with target cells, but this has not yet been experimentally validated. We hypothesize that hydrophilic polymer chains coupled to vesicle-forming polymers would result in ellipsoidal polymersomes. In addition, ellipsoidal polymersomes modified with cell adhesion peptides bind with target cells more actively than spherical ones. We examine this hypothesis by substituting polyaspartamide with octadecyl chains and varying numbers of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chains. Increasing the degree of substi

SUBMITTER: Lai MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3749081 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature