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• Sánchez-Moreno, P
• Ortega-Vinuesa, J
• Martín-Rodríguez, A
• Boulaiz, H
• Marchal-Corrales, J
• Peula-García, J
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• Sánchez-Moreno, P
• Ortega-Vinuesa, J
• Martín-Rodríguez, A
• Boulaiz, H
• Marchal-Corrales, J
• Peula-García, J
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• Sánchez-Moreno, P
• Ortega-Vinuesa, J
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• Boulaiz, H
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Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13(2), 2405-2424; doi:10.3390/ijms13022405

Article

Characterization of Different Functionalized Lipidic Nanocapsules as Potential Drug Carriers

Paola Sánchez-Moreno ¹ , Juan Luis Ortega-Vinuesa ¹ , Antonio Martín-Rodríguez ¹ , Houría Boulaiz ² , Juan Antonio Marchal-Corrales ²  and José Manuel Peula-García ^3,*

¹ Biocolloid and Fluid Physics Group, Department of Applied Physics, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain ² Human Anatomy and Embryology Department, Regenerative Biomedicine Institute (IBIMER), Campus de la Salud, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain ³ Department of Applied Physics II, University of Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 21 December 2011; in revised form: 14 February 2012 / Accepted: 15 February 2012 / Published: 22 February 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Molecules to Nanomaterials)

Download PDF Full-Text [318 KB, Updated Version, uploaded 23 February 2012 09:37 CET]

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Abstract: Lipid nanocapsules (LNC) based on a core-shell structure consisting of an oil-filled core with a surrounding polymer layer are known to be promising vehicles for the delivery of hydrophobic drugs in the new therapeutic strategies in anti-cancer treatments. The present work has been designed as basic research about different LNC systems. We have synthesized—and physico-chemically characterized—three different LNC systems in which the core was constituted by olive oil and the shell by different phospholipids (phosphatidyl-serine or lecithin) and other biocompatible molecules such as Pluronic^® F68 or chitosan. It is notable that the olive-oil-phosphatidyl-serine LCN is a novel formulation presented in this work and was designed to generate an enriched carboxylic surface. This carboxylic layer is meant to link specific antibodies, which could facilitate the specific nanocapsule uptake by cancer cells. This is why nanoparticles with phosphatidyl-serine in their shell have also been used in this work to form immuno-nanocapsules containing a polyclonal IgG against a model antigen (C-reactive protein) covalently bounded by means of a simple and reproducible carbodiimide method. An immunological study was made to verify that these IgG-LNC complexes showed the expected specific immune response. Finally, a preliminary in vitro study was performed by culturing a breast-carcinoma cell line (MCF-7) with Nile-Red-loaded LNC. We found that these cancer cells take up the fluorescent Nile-Red molecule in a process dependent on the surface properties of the nanocarriers.

Keywords: nanocarriers; lipid nanocapsules; immuno-nanocapsules; drug delivery

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