Background: A novel drug delivery system using poly (ε-caprolactone) - poly (ethylene glycol) -poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL-PEG-PCL) was established in this study. Methods: Ceftriaxone (CTX) was encapsulated within PCL-PEG-PCL nanoparticles by a double emulsion technique (w/o/w), leading to creation of ceftriaxone-loaded PCL-PEG-PCL (CTX/PCL-PEG-PCL) polymersomes. The resulting polymersomes...

Polymersomes, vesicles composed of bilayer membranes of amphiphilic block-copolymers, are promising delivery vehicles for long-term storage and controlled release of bioactives; enhanced stability of the membrane makes polymersomes potentially useful in a wide range of biological delivery applications by comparison with liposomes. However, unilamellar structure is intrinsically fragile when sub...

Cancer is the leading cause of mortality and remains a major challenge for modern chemotherapy. Recent advances in cancer therapy have made a modest impact on patient survival. Nanomedicine represents an innovative field with significant potential to improve cancer treatment. Nanomedicine utilizes numerous nanoconstructs, including polymersomes, micelles, and drug conjugates, to deliver therape...

Transport across the membranes of polymersomes remains difficult in part due to the great thickness of the polymer bilayers. Here, we report that dynamic polyion-counterion transport systems are active in fluorogenic polymersomes composed of poly(dimethylsiloxane)-b-poly(2-methyloxazoline) (PDMS-PMOXA). These results suggest that counterion-activated calf-thymus DNA can act as cation carrier th...

Biodegradable polymersomes are promising vehicles for a range of applications. Their stabilization would improve many properties, including the retention and controlled release of polymersome contents, yet this has not been previously accomplished. Here, we present the first example of stabilizing fully biodegradable polymersomes through acrylation of the hydrophobic terminal end of polymersome...

BACKGROUND A novel brain drug delivery system using cationic bovine serum albumin (CBSA)-conjugated biodegradable polymersomes (CBSA-PO) was prepared, and its intracellular delivery mechanism and brain delivery kinetics were evaluated. METHODS AND RESULTS Biodegradable poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PEG-PCL) was used to prepare the polymersomes, and thiolated CBSA was conjugated ...

Purpose: Enalapril maleate (EPM), was used for hypertension and congestive heart failure. In this way, an innovative delivery system with mPEG–PCL was synthesized and the release profile of the EPM from the drug-loaded polymersomes was evaluated. Methods: Di-block methoxy)-poly (ethylene glycol) - Poly (caprolactone) (mPEG-PCL) copolymers were synthesized and used to prepare of polymersom...

Long-term storage and controlled release of multiple components while avoiding cross-contamination have potentially important applications for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Polymersomes are very promising delivery vehicles but cannot be used to encapsulate multiple independent components and release them in a controlled manner. Here, we report a microfluidic approach to produce multiple polyme...

Polymer vesicles, or polymersomes, are being widely explored as synthetic analogs of lipid vesicles based on their stability, robustness, barrier properties, chemical versatility and tunable physical characteristics. Typical methods used to prepare giant-sized (> 4 µm) vesicles, however, are both time and labor intensive, yielding low numbers of intact polymersomes. Here, we present for the fir...

Polymersomes are self-assembled polymer shells composed of block copolymer amphiphiles. These synthetic amphiphiles have amphiphilicity similar to lipids, but they have much larger molecular weights, so for this reason--along with others reviewed here--comparisons of polymersomes with viral capsids composed of large polypeptide chains are highly appropriate. We summarize the wide range of polym...