Morphology-Variable Aggregates Prepared from Cholesterol-Containing Amphiphilic Glycopolymers: Their Protein Recognition/Adsorption and Drug Delivery Applications

Zhao Wang; Ting Luo; Amin Cao; Jingjing Sun; Lin Jia; Ruilong Sheng

doi:10.3390/nano8030136

Morphology-Variable Aggregates Prepared from Cholesterol-Containing Amphiphilic Glycopolymers: Their Protein Recognition/Adsorption and Drug Delivery Applications

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2018 Feb 28;8(3):136. doi: 10.3390/nano8030136.

Authors

Zhao Wang^{1

2}, Ting Luo³, Amin Cao⁴, Jingjing Sun⁵, Lin Jia^{6

7}, Ruilong Sheng^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Polymer Materials, Shanghai University, 99 Shangda Road, Mailbox 152, Shanghai 200444, China. wangz@sioc.ac.cn.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Self-assembly Chemistry for Organic Functional Molecules, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai 200032, China. wangz@sioc.ac.cn.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Self-assembly Chemistry for Organic Functional Molecules, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai 200032, China. luoting@sioc.ac.cn.
⁴ CAS Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Self-assembly Chemistry for Organic Functional Molecules, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai 200032, China. acao@mail.sioc.ac.cn.
⁵ CAS Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Self-assembly Chemistry for Organic Functional Molecules, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai 200032, China. jis84@pitt.edu.
⁶ Department of Polymer Materials, Shanghai University, 99 Shangda Road, Mailbox 152, Shanghai 200444, China. jlsioc@shu.edu.cn.
⁷ CAS Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Self-assembly Chemistry for Organic Functional Molecules, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai 200032, China. jlsioc@shu.edu.cn.
⁸ CAS Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Self-assembly Chemistry for Organic Functional Molecules, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai 200032, China. ruilong.sheng@staff.uma.pt.
⁹ CQM-Centro de Química da Madeira, Universidade da Madeira, Campus da Penteada, 9000-390 Funchal, Portugal. ruilong.sheng@staff.uma.pt.

Abstract

In this study, a series of diblock glycopolymers, poly(6-O-methacryloyl-d-galactopyranose)-b-poly(6-cholesteryloxyhexyl methacrylate) (PMAgala-b-PMAChols), with cholesterol/galactose grafts were prepared through a sequential reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and deprotection process. The glycopolymers could self-assemble into aggregates with various morphologies depending on cholesterol/galactose-containing block weight ratios, as determined by transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) and dynamic laser light scattering (DLS). In addition, the lectin (Ricinus communis agglutinin II, RCA₁₂₀) recognition and bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption of the PMAgala-b-PMAChol aggregates were evaluated. The SK-Hep-1 tumor cell inhibition properties of the PMAgala-b-PMAChol/doxorubicin (DOX) complex aggregates were further examined in vitro. Results indicate that the PMAgala-b-PMAChol aggregates with various morphologies showed different interaction/recognition features with RCA₁₂₀ and BSA. Spherical aggregates (d ≈ 92 nm) possessed the highest RCA₁₂₀ recognition ability and lowest BSA protein adsorption. In addition, the DOX-loaded spherical complex aggregates exhibited a better tumor cell inhibition property than those of nanofibrous complex aggregates. The morphology-variable aggregates derived from the amphiphilic glycopolymers may serve as multifunctional biomaterials with biomolecular recognition and drug delivery features.

Keywords: DOX delivery; cholesterol; galactose; lectin recognition; morphology.