Influence of molecular weight and spacer length on the properties of modified pullulan carriers / 国际生物医学工程杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the influence of pullulan molecular weight and spacer length on the properties of modified pullulan carriers including morphologies,sizes and in vitro release behaviours of drug-loading carriers.Methods Using cholesterol as hydrophobic ligand,succinic anhydride and 1,6-hexyldiisocyanate as spacers,hydrophobic modified pullulans with different molecular weights were prepared.Self-assembled nanoparticles were then formed in the aqueous solution,and drug-loaded nanoparticles were prepared by dialysis method.The influence of pullulan molecular weight and spacer length on the loading-content,morphologies and in vitro release behaviours of drug-loading nanoparticles were then investigated in detail.Results Self-assembled nanoparticles could be formed by the cholesterol-modified pullulan,and doxorubicin and mitoxantrone could be loaded into cholesterol-modified pullulan to form nanoparticles.Pullulan molecular weight and spacer length show influences on sizes,morphologies and stabilities of pullulan nanoparticles and drug-loaded nanocarriers.Conclusions Before drug loading,nanoparticles with larger moleculare weight and shorter spacer length are more stable in solution,while after drug loading,the influences of these two factors on the nanoparticles are drug-type depended.