In vitro evaluation of copper release from MRI-visible, PLGA-based nanospheres

• Published in: Journal of materials science Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 718 - 730
• Main Authors: Weitz, Iris Sonia, Perlman, Or, Azhari, Haim, Sivan, Sarit Sara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.01.2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Addition polymerization; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Copper; Copper oxide; Copper oxides; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; cupric oxide; Cuprite; Diagnostic systems; Drug delivery systems; Drugs; Glycolic acid; Health aspects; Magnetic resonance imaging; magnetism; Materials for Life Sciences; Materials Science; Medical imaging; nanocarriers; Nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; Nanospheres; Polymer Sciences; Solid Mechanics; ultrasonics; Vehicles; Visibility
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-020-05296-w

Copper nanostructures offer remarkable therapeutic potential. In particular, copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) are increasingly studied for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Their anticancer potential, as well as contrast-enhancing capabilities for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound (US), were previously demonstrated. To further exploit their unique multifunctional capabilities, here CuO NPs were successfully embedded in nanocarriers composed of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and poly(ethylene–glycol)-block-poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PEG-PLGA) and their release kinetics were studied. The CuO NPs-loaded nanospheres (NS) were obtained with a loading capacity of 3.6% ± 0.6 and 5.6% ± 0.8 respectively, and the copper in vitro release was analyzed over a period of 36 days. Copper release from PLGA-NS was found to follow a zero-order model, while that from PEG-PLGA-NS was best described by the tri-phasic release profile. The Higuchi model showed a higher correlation value ( R 2 ) for PLGA-NS and PEG-PLGA-NS ( R 2  = 0.994 and R 2  = 0.959, respectively), suggesting that the release mechanism of CuO NPs is diffusion-controlled. In addition, CuO NPs, encapsulated within these polymeric nanospheres, retained their visibility, as demonstrated by T1-weighted MRI. Our results provide further insights into the benefit of using CuO NPs-loaded PLGA-based nanospheres as multifunctional nanomaterials, which may be considered as a future theranostic agent for multiple applications including drug delivery and imaging. Graphic abstract