Hydrolytic and enzymatic degradation of nanoparticles based on amphiphilic poly(γ-glutamic acid)-graft-L-phenylalanine copolymers

Amphiphilic graft copolymers consisting of poly(gamma-glutamic acid) (gamma-PGA) as the hydrophilic backbone and L-phenylalanine ethylester (L-PAE) as the hydrophobic side chain were synthesized by grafting L-PAE to gamma-PGA. The nanoparticles were prepared by a precipitation method, and about 200 nm-sized nanoparticles were obtained due to their amphiphilic properties. The hydrolytic and enzymatic degradation of these gamma-PGA nanoparticles was studied by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and H-1 NMR measurements. The hydrolysis ratio of gamma-PGA and these hydrophobic derivatives was found to decrease upon increasing the hydrophobicity of the gamma-PGA derivates. The pH had an effect on the hydrolytic degradation of the polymer. The hydrolysis of the polymer could be accelerated by alkaline conditions. The degradation of the gamma-PGA backbone by gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma-GTP) resulted in a dramatic change in nanoparticle morphology. With increasing time, the gamma-PGA nanoparticles began to decrease in size and finally disappeared completely. Moreover, the gamma-PGA nanoparticles were degraded by four different enzymes (Pronase E, protease, cathepsin B and lipase) with different degradation patterns. The enzymatic degradation of the nanoparticles occurred via the hydrolysis of gamma-PGA as the main chain and L-PAE as the side chain. In the case of the enzymatic degradation of gamma-PGA nanoparticles with Pronase E, the size of the nanoparticles increased during the initial degradation stage and decreased gradually when the degradation time was extended. Nanoparticles composed of biodegradable amphiphilic gamma-PGA with reactive function groups can undergo further modification and are expected to have a variety of potential pharmaceutical and biomedical applications, such as drug and vaccine carriers.