Preparation and in-vitro evaluation of smart poly vinyl caprolactam-acrylic acid nanogels for doxorubicin delivery

Abstract

Introduction: Hydrogel nanoparticles have the properties of nanoparticles and hydrogels together and are suitable carriers for drugs. The main purpose of nanogels drug delivery in cancer is to minimize the side effects of drugs that are done by targeted drug delivery [1, 2]. Intelligent nanogels are polymers that respond to stimuli such as temperature and pH, one of the most important properties of them is releasing drug at the target site, which is called targeted drug delivery. Hydrogels which are sensitive to temperature and pH are used in passive drug delivery for cancer cells because the temperature of the tumor area is 41 °C and pH is 5.4 [3, 4]. Aim: The aim of this study was to synthesize temperature and pH sensitive copolymer. Vinyl caprolactam (VCL) was used for temperature sensitivity and acrylic acid (AA) was used for pH sensitivity. Triethylene glycol methacrylate TEG-MA is used as cross linking agent. doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) was used as an anticancer drug. Method: Polymer polyvinyl caprolactam acrylic acid cross-linked with polyethylene glycol methacrylate was prepared by free radical polymerization-crosslinking. the structure of the copolymer was identified by methods such as FT-IR, HNMR. then doxorubicin was loaded by encapsulation method. Loading rate, drug release percentage in the buffer were evaluated and finally the cytotoxicity of the resulting copolymer was evaluated by MTT-assay on MCF-7 and HFF-2 cell line. Results: • Confirmation copolymers structure by FT-IR spectrum • Observation the uniform shape of the copolymer by SEM • Determination of zeta potential and size by DLS • Drug loading capacity is 83% • Drug release and copolymer biocompatibility indicate suitable performance Conclusion: The results showed that P(VCL-co-AA) copolymer containing doxorubicin is a suitable carrier for targeted drug delivery.