RESUMO
A nanoscale delivery system for the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) by complexation with depolymerized polyanionic holothurian glycosaminoglycans (DHG) was designed in the present studies. The physicochemical properties of the nanocomplexes were investigated by dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy and zeta potential determination. DHG-DOX interaction was investigated in the presence of ethanol as a hydrogen-bond disrupting agent and NaCl as an electrostatic shielding agent. The thermal properties of nanocomplexes were ascertained by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The in vitro release profile was studied as well. Complexation of DHG and DOX formed spherical and smooth nanocomplexes with negative zeta potential (-46.3â¯mV) at a DHG/DOX (w/w) ratio of 1.0, where drug encapsulation efficiency was over 60%. The results indicated that the electrostatic and hydrogen bonds played an important role in DHG-DOX complexation. TGA confirmed that the nanocomplexes involved in the DHG as the as the coat and DOX as the content. The release profile of the nanocomplexes exhibited an initial fast release and an subsequent slow and sustained release. Furthermore, the in vitro cell cytotoxicity assays exhibited that the DOX loaded nanocomplexes could improve the cell killing ability of DOX for HepG-2, MCF-7 and A549 tumor cells and exert a sustained-release efforts in the cells.