Self-assembling dipeptide-based nontoxic vesicles as carriers for drugs and other biologically important molecules

Abstract

Self-assembling short peptides can offer an opportunity to make useful nano-/microstructures that find potential application in drug delivery. We report here the formation of multivesicular structures from self-assembling water-soluble synthetic amphiphilic dipeptides containing a glutamic acid residue at the C-terminus. These vesicular structures are stable over a wide range of pH (pH 2–12). However, they are sensitive towards calcium ions. This causes the rupturing of these vesicles. Interestingly, these vesicles can not only encapsulate an anticancer drug and a fluorescent dye, but also can release them in the presence of calcium ions. Moreover, these multivesicular structures have the potential to carry biologically important molecules like cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) within the cells keeping their biological functions intact. A MTT cell-survival assay suggests the almost nontoxic nature of these vesicles. Thus, these peptide vesicles can be used as biocompatible delivery vehicles for carrying drugs and other bioactive molecules.