Design of a multimodal colloidal polymeric drug delivery vesicle: A detailed pharmaceutical study

Over the past few years, numerous developments and design principle of smart nanomaterials have pioneered different delivery modalities and routes for efficient drug administration. Nanocarriers comprising of fluorescent biomarkers and drug molecule at the same platform are promising vesicles for passive targeting and drug delivery. Here, we report the detailed pharmaceutical study of a novel synthesized multimodal nanoclinic consisting of Polycaprolactone (PCL), a biodegradable polymer as drug matrix, Cadmium Selenide (CdSe) quantum dot as fluorescent marker and curcumin, a natural anti-cancer drug as drug molecule. This multimodal nanoclinic was synthesized by a modified miniemulsion technique and characterized by UV–Vis absorption and FTIR spectroscopy. The efficiency of this nano-vesicle was evaluated by in vitro experiments including drug release, cell cytotoxicity and uptake. Drug release profile was studied in PBS buffer and correlated with theoretical Higuchi modelling. MTT assay confirmed the bio-suitability of these nanocomposites. The fluorescence and confocal imaging show the successful uptake of this nanoclinic by human lung cancer cell line. These polymeric nanoparticles based system provide the promise for the design of next generation multimodal drug delivery modality.