An amphiphilic polymer that consisted of a deep eutectic solvent (DES)-mediated drug carrier was designed, where the DES influenced the formation of folic acid (FA)-tagged g-β-alanine-co-PCL polymer (DES@FA-g-β-alanine-co-PCL); the nature of the carrier was investigated through emission analysis and pyrene used as a model probe (CMC = 0.4 mg/mL). The amphiphilic polymer was self-assembled into a sphere (≈204 nm diameter) with a surface charge of -3 ± 0.5 mV. The doxorubicin was incorporated and the structural changes were analyzed by UV-visible spectroscopy, FT-IR, XRD, Raman, and TGA analysis, while size and morphological analysis was performed by DLS, AFM, SEM, and TEM. The controlled release of drug from the carrier was observed at different pH levels. The enhanced anticancer potential of DOX-loaded polymeric micelle was studied both in vitro and in vivo breast cancer model. The treatment of DOX-loaded polymeric micelle reduces the viability and proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells. From the results of the current investigation it concludes that the DOX-loaded polymeric micelle has enhance anticancer effect and it exhibits its potential effect at the dosage of 5 mg/kg body weight in mammary carcinoma-bearing rats. From the observed results, synthesized DOX-loaded polymeric micelle holds strong anticancer properties compared with free DOX and can be used as a potential carrier in the pharmaceutical industry.
Keywords: MDA-MB-231; chlorambucil; deep eutectic solvent; doxorubicin; lysosomal enzymes; self-assemble; targeted drug delivery.