Ph Responsive Drug Carrier Polycaprolactone/Polyvinyl Alcohol Core-Shell Particles Loaded with Rad001 as a Potential Application in the Treatment of Pediatric Brain Tumours

Abstract

Core-shell particles composed of polyvinylcaprolactone/polyvinyl alcohol (PCL/PVA) with pH sensitive properties were successfully fabricated by co-axial electrospraying in which PVA and PCL formed the shell and core layers respectively. The core-shell structure was confirmed by FTIR, DSC and SEM analysis. No chemical interaction between PVA and PCL core-shell were observed in the FTIR analysis. The RAD001 loaded core-shell particles showed a sustained and pH dependent drug release and was assayed via our previously developed HPLC method. After indirect treatment of the PF-A cells with the core-shell particles for 24h and 5days a decrease in cell viability was observed. Additionally, a comparison was made with our previously developed nanoparticles containing 2%PVA-14%SOL®-0.6% RAD001, for the cell viability study on ependymoma. Our findings show that optimised core-shell particles exerted a significant effect for the 24h and 5day treatment however further studies are required to ensure toxicity of the control core-shell particles with no drug is reduced. In comparison, the 2%PVA-14%SOL®-0.6%RAD001 uniaxial electrosprayed nanoparticles also exerted a toxicity effect decreasing cell viability with no toxicity observed for the control nanoparticles as well. Such pH-sensitive core-shell particles, which can degrade effectively in either acidic or neutral condition, have great potential for application in the biomedical field.

Note:
Funding declaration: This work has received funding from the Technological University of the Shannon, Presidents Seed Fund, Grant number P1039.

Conflict of Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Keywords: Electrospraying, Core-Shell, Drug delivery, Co-axial, Ependymoma, pH sensitive