Poly (diglycerol adipate) variants as enhanced nanocarrier replacements in drug delivery applications

Jacob, Philippa L.; Brugnoli, Benedetta; Del Giudice, Alessandra; Phan, Hien; Chauhan, Veeren M.; Beckett, Laura; Gillis, Richard B.; Moloney, Cara; Cavanagh, Robert J.; Krumins, Eduards; Reynolds-Green, Morgan; Lentz, Joachim C.; Conte, Claudia; Cuzzucoli Crucitti, Valentina; Couturaud, Benoit; Galantini, Luciano; Francolini, Iolanda; Howdle, Steven M.; Taresco, Vincenzo

Abstract

Sustainably derived poly(glycerol adipate) (PGA) has been deemed to deliver all the desirable features expected in a polymeric scaffold for drug-delivery, including biodegradability, biocompatibility, self-assembly into nanoparticles (NPs) and a functionalisable pendant group. Despite showing these advantages over commercial alkyl polyesters, PGA suffers from a series of key drawbacks caused by poor amphiphilic balance. This leads to weak drug-polymer interactions and subsequent low drug-loading in NPs, as well as low NPs stability. To overcome this, in the present work, we applied a more significant variation of the polyester backbone while maintaining mild and sustainable polymerisation conditions. We have investigated the effect of the variation of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments upon physical properties and drug interactions as well as self-assembly and NPs stability. For the first time we have replaced glycerol with the more hydrophilic diglycerol, as well as adjusting the final amphiphilic balance of the polyester repetitive units by incorporating the more hydrophobic 1,6-n-hexanediol (Hex). The properties of the novel poly(diglycerol adipate) (PDGA) variants have been compared against known polyglycerol-based polyesters. Interestingly, while the bare PDGA showed improved water solubility and diminished self-assembling ability, the Hex variation demonstrated enhanced features as a nanocarrier. In this regard, PDGAHex NPs were tested for their stability in different environments and for their ability to encode enhanced drug loading. Moreover, the novel materials have shown good biocompatibility in both in vitro and in vivo (whole organism) experiments.

Citation

Jacob, P. L., Brugnoli, B., Del Giudice, A., Phan, H., Chauhan, V. M., Beckett, L., …Taresco, V. (2023). Poly (diglycerol adipate) variants as enhanced nanocarrier replacements in drug delivery applications. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 641, 1043-1057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2023.03.124

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 19, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Mar 22, 2023
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 28, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: May 2, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Colloid and Interface Science
• Print ISSN: 0021-9797
• Electronic ISSN: 1095-7103
• Publisher: Elsevier BV
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 641
• Pages: 1043-1057
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2023.03.124
• Keywords: Poly(diglycerol adipate), Pharmaceutical Preparations, Drug Delivery Systems, Poly(glycerol adipate), Nanoparticles - chemistry, Adipates - chemistry, Drug-delivery, Nanoparticles, Polyesters - chemistry, Glycerol, In vitro and in vivo, Drug Carriers - ch
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/19779055
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021979723004897?via%3Dihub
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Poly (diglycerol adipate) variants as enhanced nanocarrier replacements in drug delivery applications; Journal Title: Journal of Colloid and Interface Science; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2023.03.124; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc.