ABSTRACT
Objective: To prepare polydopamine-modified elemene-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles (D/MSN-ELE), and conduct research on formulation process optimization, quality evaluation, in vitro release, in vitro antitumor activity, and ability to promote apoptosis. Methods: Elemene-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN-ELE) were prepared by solution adsorption method, D/MSN-ELE and polydopamine-modified mesoporous silica nanoparticles (D/MSN) were prepared by polymerization. The morphology of the nanoparticles was characterized by transmission electron microscopy. The PDA graft ratio was calculated by thermogravimetric analysis. The loading and encapsulation efficiency of D/MSN-ELE were evaluated using HPLC, the dialysis bag method was used to investigate the release characteristics in vitro of D/MSN-ELE. MTT staining was used to analyze the cytotoxicity of different nanoparticles on HELF and A549 cells. Flow cytometry was used to detect the levels of D/MSN-ELE reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial membrane potential. Results: The optimal preparation process was the drug loading ratio of 6:1, the temperature was 50℃, and the time was 8 h. The D/MSN-ELE prepare under the process condition have a were uniform distribution with a particle size of (288.70 ± 3.88) nm. The average drug loading and encapsulation efficiency were (11.58 ± 0.73)% and (59.82 ± 0.57)%, respectively. In vitro drug release was pH-responsive, and cumulative drug release increased with decreasing pH. The half-lethal concentrations of ELE, MSN-ELE and D/MSN-ELE on A549 cells were 91.29, 27.56 and 6.02 μg/mL, respectively. The detection results of reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial membrane potential further indicated that drug-loaded nanoparticles were able to promote tumor target cell apoptosis. Conclusion: D/MSN-ELE under the optimized process has a higher drug loading, pH-responsive drug release and greatly enhanced antitumor activity. This study provides further experiments basis for tumor-targeted delivery of elemene drugs based on mesoporous silica nanoparticles.
