Delivery of paclitaxel by carboxymethyl chitosan-functionalized dendritic fibrous nano-silica: Fabrication, characterization, controlled release performance and pharmacokinetics.

In this study, carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) with excellent biocompatibility was used as the "gatekeeper" to design and fabricate a pH-responsive drug delivery system (CMCS-DFNS) as paclitaxel carriers. Characterization results showed that CMCS-DFNS was successfully prepared and the nanocarriers displayed excellent drug loading efficiency of 19.8 %, and the results of the adsorption mechanism revealed that the adsorption of PTX was consistent with the Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Furthermore, the pH-responsive controlled release behavior at different pH (pH = 7.4, 6.5, and 5.0) was evaluated, and the results demonstrated that the cumulative release at pH 5.0 was 58.8 %, which was 2.7 times higher than that at pH 7.4, suggesting that the carrier exhibited a good pH sensitivity. The results of in vitro cellular experiments further indicated that CMCS-DFNS significantly improved the drug uptake efficiency in breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Importantly, the results of in vivo and cellular pharmacokinetic revealed that CMCS-DFNS can improve the circulation time and enhance the relative bioavailability of paclitaxel. Therefore, the fabricated pH-responsive drug delivery system has potential applications in the delivery of anti-tumor drugs, and provides a new delivery pathway for other compounds with low bioavailability.