Long circulating anionic liposomes for hepatic targeted delivery of cisplatin

Abstract

In this paper, a receptor-mediated liposomal drug delivery system (DDS) was developed aiming to deliver cisplatin (cis-diaminedichloroplatinum(II); CDDP) targeting the liver. Acetyl glycyrrhetinic acid (AGA) was chosen as the hepatic targeting ligand and acetyl glycyrrhetinic acid-poly(ethylene glycol)-stearate (AGA-PEG-ST) was synthesized. Anionic 5-cholestene-3-beta-ol-3-hemisuccinate (CHO-HS) was also synthesized. The liposomal CDDPs were prepared by employing these functional moieties with phosphatidylcholine (PC) at various ratios. Meanwhile, methoxypolyethylene glycol-stearate (MPEG-ST) with an analogous structure but without AGA was also prepared as a control. The particle sizes of AGA modified liposomes ranged from 120 nm to 180 nm and the zeta potentials were located between −39.7 mV and −3.18 mV. The liposomes had encapsulation percentages of 51.5–61.7% and a loading capacity of 23.2–26.7% for CDDP. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations showed that the liposomes had spherical morphologies with homogeneous distribution. In vitro cytotoxicity of CDDP-loaded liposomes against HepG2 human liver cancer cells and A549 human lung epithelial carcinoma cells were evaluated by MTT assays. The results demonstrated that the introduction of AGA could enhance the cytotoxicity of liposomal CDDP against HepG2 cells but showed less significant impact on A549 cells. CLSM observation and FCM measurement further confirmed that AGA modified liposomes had a stronger affinity to HepG2 cells than that of liposomes without AGA. The tissue distribution of calcein in mice indicated that AGA modified liposomes resulted in higher accumulation in the liver than that of liposomes without the AGA ligand. These results demonstrated the promise of AGA decorated anionic liposomes for hepatic targeted delivery of cisplatin.