Enhanced water solubility, antioxidant activity, and oral absorption of hesperetin by D-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate and phosphatidylcholine

Hesperetin,an abundant bioactive component of citrus fruits,is poorly water-soluble,resulting in low oral bioavailability.We developed new formulations to improve the water solubility,antioxidant activity,and oral absorption of hesperetin.Two nano-based formulations were developed,namely hesperetin-TPGS(D-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate)micelles and hesperetin-phosphatidylcholine(PC)complexes.These two formulations were prepared by a simple technique called solvent dispersion,using US Food and Drug Administration(FDA)-approved excipients for drugs.Differential scanning calorimetry(DSC)and dynamic light scattering(DLS)were used to characterize the formulations’physical properties.Cytotoxicity analysis,cellular antioxidant activity assay,and a pharmacokinetic study were performed to evaluate the biological properties of these two formulations.The final weight ratios of both hesperetin to TPGS and hesperetin to PC were 1:12 based on their water solubility,which increased to 21.5-and 20.7-fold,respectively.The hesperetin-TPGS micelles had a small particle size of 26.19 nm,whereas the hesperetin-PC complexes exhibited a larger particle size of 219.15 nm.In addition,the cellular antioxidant activity assay indicated that both hesperetin-TPGS micelles and hesperetin-PC complexes increased the antioxidant activity of hesperetin to 4.2-and 3.9-fold,respectively.Importantly,the in vivo oral absorption study on rats indicated that the micelles and complexes significantly increased the peak plasma concentration(Cmax)from 2.64μg/mL to 20.67 and 33.09μg/mL and also increased the area under the concentration–time curve of hesperetin after oral administration to 16.2-and 18.0-fold,respectively.The micelles and complexes increased the solubility and remarkably improved the in vitro antioxidant activity and in vivo oral absorption of hesperetin,indicating these formulations’potential applications in drugs and healthcare products.

Self-assembly and pH-Responsive Properties of Poly(L-glutamic acid-r-Lleucine) and Poly(L-glutamic acid-r-L-leucine)-b-Polysarcosine

Polypeptides and polypeptoids were widely used as biomedical materials because of their good biocompatibility. In this work we reported a series of pH-responsive copolypeptides and polypeptide-polypeptoid block copolymers, i.e. random copolymers of L-glutamic acid （Glu） with L-leucine （Leu） [poly（Glu-r-Leu）s], as well as their block copolymers with polysarcosine （polySar）. Well-defined poly（Glu-r-Leu）s with predictable compositions and molecular weights were synthesized by ring opening polymerization of corresponding N-carboxyanhydride monomers. We investigated the relationship between hydrophilicity-hydrophobicity transition and copolymer composition. With increasing Leu fraction, both the pH value of cloud point and the micellar size increased. Poly（Glu-r-Leu） with 60% Leu exhibited a cloud point at the pH of 5.0 to 6.0 the same as that in endosome and lysosome. Poly（Glu-r-Leu）-b-polySars assembled in phosphate buffer and performed pH-responsive morphology change from orbicular micelles at high pH to worm-like micelles at low pH. They were potential pH-responsive carriers for drug and gene delivery to enhance cargo release in cellules.

Tuning the Stability of the Polyplex Nanovesicles of Oligonucleotides via a Zinc(Ⅱ)-Coordinative Strategy

Oligonucleotide therapeutics have great potential to target the currently undruggable genes and to generate entirely new therapeutic paradigms in multiple types of disease,thus having attracted much attention in recent years.However,their applications are greatly hindered by a lack of safe and efficient oligonucleotide-delivery vectors.Polyplex nanovesicles formed from oligonucleotides and the cationic block have shown exceptional features for the delivery of therapeutic oligonucleotides and other biopharmaceuticals.Nevertheless,these polyplex nanovesicles are deeply fraught with difficulty in tolerating physiological ionic strength.Inspired by the high binding ability between the dipicolylamine(DPA)/zinc(Ⅱ)complex and the phosphodiester moieties of oligonucleotides,herein,we designed a coordinative cationic block to solve the intrinsic stability dilemma.Moreover,we found the stability of the resulted polyplex nanovesicles could be easily tuned by the content of coordinated zinc ions.In vitro cellular studies implied that the prepared zinc(Ⅱ)-coordinative polyplex nanovesicles preferred to retain in the lysosomes upon internalization,making them ideal delivery candidates for the lysosome-targeting oligonucleotide therapeutics.