Amphiphilic miktoarm copolymers mPEG-( hb -PG)- g -PCL bearing one monomethoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG) chain and several linear poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) chains on a hyperbranched polyglycerol ( hb -PG) core were designed and synthesized via a combination of anionic polymerization of glycidol and ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone (CL). The polymers were characterized by 1 H NMR and gel permeation chromatograph (GPC). The amphiphilic miktoarm copolymers could form stable micelle solutions by adding water to a THF solution of the polymer followed by removal of the organic solvent by dialysis. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements showed that the micelles had a narrow unimodal size distribution. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images displayed that the micelles were in regular spherical shape with narrow size distribution. The properties of the copolymers as drug carriers were investigated with prednisone acetate as a model drug. Linear mPEG- b -PCL block copolymers with similar composition were synthesized and used for comparison to investigate the effects of the hyperbranched architecture. The drug loading capacity (DLC) and entrapment efficiency (EE) of amphiphilic hyperbranched miktoarm copolymers mPEG-( hb -PG)- g -PCL were higher than those of amphiphilic linear block copolymers mPEG- b -PCL. Further, the amphiphilic hyperbranched miktoarm copolymers had more sustained drug release behavior.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Zhang et al. (2010) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: