A pH/glutathione double responsive drug delivery system using molecular imprint technique for drug loading

A surface molecular imprinting polymer (SMIP) with doxorubicin (DOX) as the template was prepared on the surface of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs), which were further used as DOX carriers. The loading amount of DOX was calculated as 10.5 ± 0.2 wt% with loading efficiency of 70 ± 8%. The DOX release was controlled because the monomer molecule used in polymerization of SMIP containing sulfur-sulfur bonding, which could be decomposed with an acidic pH and glutathione (GSH). Under an acidic pH and high concentration of GSH, there was greater release of DOX than under normal physiological conditions, which induced less damage to normal cells than to cancer cells. Confocal laser scanning microscopy studies verified the invasion of the DOX within SMIP into TCA8113 cancer cells. These results indicate that the prepared SMIP was an effective nanocarrier.