pH-sensitive poly( glutamic acid) grafted mesoporous silica nanoparticles for drug delivery

pH-(sensitive poly(L-(glutamic acid) grafted mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN-(PLGA) were prepared by the surface-(initiated N-(carboxyanhydride polymerization method. The resultant MSN-(PLGA was well dispersed in aqueous medium and showed high drug loading efficiency, superior stability, and significantly higher drug release rates. The cumulative release of doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) from DOX-(loaded MSN-(PLGA (DOX@ MSN-(PLGA) was pH-(dependent and the release rate was much higher at pH 5.5 than that at pH 7.4. The cytotoxicity results indicated that the blank MSN-(PLGA was biocompatible and the DOX@ MSN-(PLGA had potent in vitro cytotoxicity effect similar to free DOX. Overall, these results demonstrate that MSN-(PLGA is a promising platform to build pH controlled drug delivery systems for cancer therapy. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.