Synthesis and characterization of innovative poly(lactide-co-glycolide)-(poly-l-ornithine/fucoidan) core–shell nanocarriers by layer-by-layer self-assembly

Abstract

Layer-by-Layer (LbL) self-assembly of nanocarriers has garnered the interest of researchers for a wide variety of biomedical applications. In this study, we demonstrated the preparation of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA)-(poly-L-ornithine (PLO)/fucoidan)₄ core–shell nanoparticles (LbL NPs) by a LbL-based self-assembly process, which possessed a mean size of 170 nm. In LbL NPs, a drug carrying PLGA nano-core is coated with alternating PLO and sulfated polysaccharide fucoidan composite films as a shell on the surface. The anti-tumor drug doxorubicin (DOX) loaded into the PLGA core, resulted in better encapsulation efficiency and its in vitro release from LbL NPs demonstrates that this core–shell strategy takes an advantage of its ability to hold the drug cargo and exhibit controlled release. Further, in vitro cell uptake studies by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) examination in breast tumor cells (MCF-7 cell line) have confirmed that the nanocarriers are successfully internalized and outlined their presence in the cytoplasm after 4 h of incubation. These intracellularly delivered DOX-loaded LbL NPs exhibited significant anti-tumor activity against breast tumor cells. This innovative chemotherapeutic design taking above advantages of successful internalization along with controlled release property signifies as a promising interventional therapeutic delivery system.