Folic Acid Conjugated Polyglutamic Acid Drug Vehicle Synthesis through Deep Eutectic Solvent for Targeted Release of Paclitaxel

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are promising biocompatible solvents that have many applications in biomedical research including drug delivery. In this study, nanomicelles were designed and developed for encapsulation of paclitaxel (PTX) for cancer therapy using DES from proline (PA) and lactic acid (LA) as resources. The self-assembled DES grafted polyglutamic acid conjugated folic acid (DES-g-PGA-FA) micelles were determined through Critical micelle concentration (CMC) by fluorescence analysis using pyrene as a probe (CMC=0.7 mg/mL). The successful preparation of DESs and DESs grafted polymer was confirmed by spectroscopy techniques, and density. The crystalline nature, thermal stability, particle size, surface morphology of the micelles and drug loaded micelles were determined by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and also microscope techniques analysis. In addition, the encapsulation efficiency and sustained release behavior of PTX loaded micelles was tested by UV-visible spectroscopy at the lambda(max) value of 280 nm. Anticancer activity of the compound (PTX loaded polymeric micelles) was assessed on the human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) and toxicity effect against normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) using the tetrazolium-based MTT assay. These results demonstrate that the polymeric micelles are a promising carrier for anticancer therapeutics and minimize adverse side effects to normal cells.