Peptide decorated calcium phosphate/carboxymethyl chitosan hybrid nanoparticles with improved drug delivery efficiency.

In this study, a facile strategy to effectively improve the delivery efficiency of nano-sized drug delivery systems was developed. Calcium phosphate/carboxymethyl chitosan (Ca–P/CMC) hybrid nanoparticles were prepared by the precipitation of calcium phosphate in the aqueous solution containing CMC. The obtained Ca–P/CMC nanoparticles were characterized by SEM, XPS and TGA. Doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX), a water-soluble anticancer drug, was loaded in the nanoparticles with high encapsulation efficiency. The in vitro drug release showed that the release of DOX from the nanoparticles could be effectively sustained. After drug loading, the nanoparticles were decorated by peptide KALA by self-assembly through the electrostatic interaction between the positively charged KALA and the negatively charged CMC chains to obtain drug loaded Ca–P/CMC/KALA nanoparticles. The size and size distribution of the nanoparticles were measured by a particle size analyzer. The KALA decorated nanoparticles exhibited a larger size and an increased zeta potential. The effect of KALA content on the HeLa cell inhibition was studied. The in vitro study showed that the cell inhibition effect could be significantly enhanced by the presence of KALA.