pH-controlled doxorubicin delivery from PDEAEMA-based nanogels

Abstract In this work, the feasibility of some poly(2-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDEAEMA)-based pH-sensitive nanogels as drug nanocarriers is evaluated. The anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOXO) is successfully encapsulated into the nanogels, achieving high drug loading and encapsulation efficiency. It has been found that the in vitro delivery of DOXO from the nanogels was pH-dependent: DOXO release rate is accelerated by decreasing pH from 7.4 (healthy cells) to 5.2 (pH condition for endo/lysosomial compartments and unhealthy cells) due to the swelling of the nanogel particles. The uptake of DOXO-loaded nanogels into MDA-MB-231 tumoral cells and the progressive release of the drug from the nanogels to the cell nuclei are demonstrated by fluorescence microscopy measurements. These results suggest a great potential of these DOXO-loaded nanogels for antitumor drug delivery.