Quantitative and qualitative toxicological evaluation of thiol-ene "click" chemistry-based polyanhydrides and their degradation products.

Quantitative and qualitative toxicological analyses of crosslinked, surface-eroding polyanhydrides (PAHs) made from thiol-ene "click" polymerizations are reported. The cytotoxicity of these PAHs was investigated against three skin-based cell types; melanoma (A-375), human dermal fibroblast adult (HDFa), and 3T3-J2 (mouse fibroblast) cells, thus providing insight into the potential for these PAHs to be used in dermal drug delivery applications. Apoptosis was evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively using MTT assay and fluorescence microscopic imaging as indication of cytotoxicity. Upon exposure of A-375 and HDFa cells to high concentrations (4000 mg/L) of crosslinked PAH, the respective morphologies remained relatively unchanged compared with nonexposed cells. The 3T3-J2 cell type was more sensitive towards the PAH, exhibiting minimal deformation of cell morphology at 4000 mg/L. The MTT assay and fluorescence imaging revealed that this PAH and its degradation products are highly cytocompatible at high concentrations and cytotoxicity observed is dosage/time dependent. Further, the PAH did not induce inhibition of tested cells' proliferation at high polymer concentration up to 2000 mg/L. The IC50 (concentration of the crosslinked PAH required to inhibit 50% cell viability) for HDFa and A-375 cells was determined to be 4300 ± 70 and 8500 ± 50 mg/L, respectively. The high cytocompatibility of this type of crosslinked PAH, in addition to their degradation products, towards these skin cells (standard and cancer cell types) suggests that the polymer may be viable for dermal-based drug delivery to normal and cancerous diseased tissues. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 104A: 1936-1945, 2016.

Photopolymerized cross-linked thiol-ene polyanhydrides: erosion, release, and toxicity studies.

Several critical aspects of cross-linked polyanhydrides made using thiol-ene polymerization are reported, in particular the erosion, release, and solution properties, along with their cytotoxicity toward fibroblast cells. The monomers used to synthesize these polyanhydrides were 4-pentenoic anhydride and pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate). Techniques used to evaluate the erosion mechanism indicate a complex situation in which several phenomena, such as hydrolysis rates, local pH, water diffusion, and solubility, may be influencing the erosion process. The mass loss profile, the release rate of a hydrophilic dye, the rate of hydrolysis of the polyanhydride, the hydrolysis product solubility as a function of pH, average pK(a) and its cytotoxicity toward fibroblast cells were all determined. The solubility of the degradation product is low at pH values less than 6-7, and the average pKa was determined to be ~5.3. The cytotoxicity of the polymer and the degradation product was found to be low, with cell viabilities of >97% for the various samples studied at concentrations of ~1000-1500 ppm. These important parameters help determine the potential of the thiol-ene polyanhydrides in various biomedical applications. These polyanhydrides can be used as a delivery vehicle, and although the release profile qualitatively followed the mass loss profile for a hydrophilic dye, the release rate appears to be by both diffusion and mass loss mechanisms.

Cytotoxicity and cell interaction studies of bioadhesive poly(anhydride) nanoparticles for oral antigen/drug delivery.

The use of bioadhesive polymers as nanodevices has emerged as a promising strategy for oral delivery of therapeutics. In this regard, poly(anhydride) nanoparticles have shown great potential for oral drug delivery and vaccine purposes. However, despite extensive research into the biomedical and pharmaceutical applications of poly(anhydride) nanoparticles, there are no studies to evaluate the interaction of these nanoparticles at a cellular level. Therefore, the main objectives of this study were to evaluate the cytotoxicity as well as the cell interaction of different poly(anhydride) nanoparticles: conventional (NP), nanoparticles containing 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (NP-HPCD) and nanoparticles coated with poly(ethylene glycol) 6000 (PEG-NP). For this purpose, nanoparticles were prepared by solvent displacement method and labelled with BSA-FITC. Nanoparticles displayed a size about 175 nm with negative surface charge. Cytotoxicity studies were developed by MTS and LDH assays in HepG2 and Caco-2 cells. Results showed that only in HepG2 cells, NP and NP-HPCD induced significant cytotoxicity at the highest concentrations (1 and 2 mg/mL) and incubation times (48 and 72 h) tested. Studies to discriminate between cytoadhesion and cytoinvasion were performed at 4 degrees C and 37 degrees C in Caco-2 cell line as intestinal cell model. Nanoparticles showed cytoadhesion to the cell surface but not internalization; PEG-NP was the most bioadhesive followed by NP-HPCD and NP as demonstrated by flow cytometry. Finally, cellular localization of particles by fluorescence confocal microscopy confirmed the association of these nanoparticles with cells. Thus, this study demonstrated the safety of NP, NP-HPCD and PEG-NP at cellular level and its bioadhesive properties within cells.

Role of polyanhydrides as localized drug carriers.

Many drugs that are administered in an unmodified form by conventional systemic routes fail to reach target organs in an effective concentration, or are not effective over a length of time due to a facile metabolism. Various types of targeting delivery systems and devices have been tried over a long period of time to overcome these problems. Targeted delivery or localized drug delivery offers an advantage of reduced body burden and systemic toxicity of the drugs, especially useful for highly toxic drugs like anticancer agents. Local drug delivery via polymer is a simple approach and hypothesized to avoid the above stated problems. Polyanhydrides are a unique class of polymer for drug delivery because some of them demonstrate a near zero order drug release and relatively rapid biodegradation in vivo. Further, the release rate of polyanhydride fabricated device can be altered over a thousand fold by simple changes in the polymer backbone. Hence, these are one of the best-suited polymers for drug delivery, with biodegradability and biocompatibility. The review focuses on the advantages of polyanhydride carriers in localized drug delivery along with their degradability behavior, toxicological profile and role in various disease conditions.