Oligoelectrolyte-mediated, pH-triggered release of hydrophobic drugs from non-responsive micelles: Influence of oligo(2-vinyl pyridine)-loading on drug-loading, release and cytotoxicity

pH-responsive polymeric micelles have been extensively studied for nanomedicine and take advantage of pH differentials in tissues for the delivery of large doses of cytotoxic drugs at specific target sites. Despite significant advances in this area, there is a lack of versatile and adaptable strategies to render micelles pH-responsive that could be widely applied to different payloads and applications. To address this deficiency, we introduce the concept of oligoelectrolyte-mediated, pH-triggered release of hydrophobic drugs from non-responsive polymeric micelles as a highly effective approach with broad scope. Herein, we investigate the influence of the oligoelectrolyte, oligo(2-vinyl pyridine) (OVP), loading and polymer molecular weight on the pH-sensitivity, drug loading/release and cytotoxicity of poly(ethylene glycol-b-ε-caprolactone) (PEG-b-PCL) micelles using copolymers with either short or long hydrophobic blocks (PEG₄PCL₄ and PEG₁₀PCL₁₀, respectively). The micelles were characterized as a function of pH (7.4 to 3.5). Dynamic LIGHT scattering (DLS) revealed narrow particle size distributions (PSDs) for both the blank and OVP-loaded micelles at pH 7.4. While OVP encapsulation resulted in an increase in the hydrodynamic diameter (D_h) (cf. blank micelles), a decrease in the pH below 6.5 led to a decrease in the D_h consistent with the ionization and release of OVP and core collapse, which were further supported by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) spectroscopy and UV-visible (UV-vis) spectrophotometry. The change in zeta potential (ζ) with pH for the OVP-loaded PEG₄PCL₄ and PEG₁₀PCL₁₀ micelles was different, suggesting that the location/distribution of OVP in the micelles is influenced by the polymer molecular weight. In general, co-encapsulation of drugs (doxorubicin (DOX), gossypol (GP), paclitaxel (PX) or 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN38)) and OVP in the micelles proceeded efficiently with high encapsulation efficiency percentages (EE%). In vitro release studies revealed the rapid, pH-triggered release of drugs from OVP-loaded PEG₁₀PCL₁₀ micelles within hours, with higher OVP loadings providing faster and more complete release. In comparison, no triggered release was observed for the OVP-loaded PEG₄PCL₄ micelles, implying a strong molecular weight dependency. In metabolic assays the drug- and OVP-loaded PEG₁₀PCL₁₀ micelles were found to result in significant enhancement of the cytotoxicity compared to drug-loaded micelles (no OVP) or other controls. Importantly, micelles with low OVP loadings were found to be nearly as effective as those with high OVP loadings. These results provide key insights into the tunability of the oligoelectrolyte-mediated approach for the effective formulation of pH-responsive micelles and pH-triggered drug release.

Drug delivery; Oligoelectrolyte; Polymeric micelle; Triggered release; pH-responsive.