Dual-responsive crosslinked pluronic micelles as a carrier to deliver anticancer drug taxol

A dual-sensitive chemically crosslinked polymer (CCP) forming nanosized micelles bearing a pH responsive covalent benzoic-imine bond and redox sensitive disulfide is reported as an endocytosis based target delivery system to deliver the anticancer drug Taxol. The size of the micelles was 38.6 +/- 10.9 and 99.5 +/- 26.2 measuring from dynamic light scattering (DLS) before and after Taxol loading where morphology of the micelles were evaluated via transmission electron microscopy images (TEM). The Taxol loading content was 1.6% with 33.4% loading efficiency. Significant micelles stability wax was observed at normal physiological conditions by investigating the change in emission intensity for the encapsulated quantum dots (QDs). A significant amount of Taxol was released under individual stimuli within a short period of time. The CCP micelles showed non-toxic properties when applied to the A549 cell and considerable cytotoxicity has been found from the drug, loaded within the micelles. Cellular uptake of the Taxol loaded micelles was confirmed via confocal laser scanning microscopy. These biodegradable micelles may be a potential candidate in carrier based intelligent drug delivery system in order to deliver cytotoxic hydrophobic drug.