Добавил:
kiopkiopkiop18@yandex.ru t.me/Prokururor I Вовсе не секретарь, но почту проверяю Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз: Предмет: Файл:
Ординатура / Хирургия / Библиотека им академика М.И. Перельмана / Книга_5894_Библиотеки_им_академика_М_И_Перельмана.pdf
Скачиваний:
0
Добавлен:
02.09.2026
Размер:
19 Мб
Скачать
PEGylated Nanocarriers forSolubilization
RandaS.H.Mansour, RakeshKumarTekade, andAla’AdnanAli
Abstract
This chapter is dedicated to explaining the principle of PEGylation in the solubiliza-
tion of nanocarriers for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications, in addition to
the enhancement of the propensity of these carriers to solubilize drugs. The chapter
introduces the general rationale for nanocarrier PEGylation with a specic focus on
the topic of solubilization in addition to the solubility characteristics of
PEG.PEGylated small molecular weight drugs and proteins are briey introduced to
emphasize the stages of pharmaceutical solubilization by PEGylation. Furthermore,
protein PEGylation as a means to solubilize enzymes and proteins for facilitated
nanoparticle production is highlighted. Proposed mechanisms and factors affecting
the drug solubilization propensity of PEGylated nanocarriers are also explored.
Illustrative examples and reviewed applications are included wherever appropriate.
5
Keywords
PEGylated nanocarriers · Aqueous solubility · Organic solvents · Nanocarrier
solubilization · Drug solubilization · PEGylation extent · PEG chain length
R. S. H. Mansour (*) Faculty of Pharmacy, Zarqa University-Jordan, Zarqa, Jordan e-mail: rmansour@zu.edu.jo
R. K. Tekade National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) Ahmedabad, An Institute of National Importance, Government of India, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Palaj, Opp. Air force station, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
A. A. Ali Faculty of Pharmacy, Zarqa University-Jordan, Zarqa, Jordan
Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
137
138
R. S. H. Mansour et al.
Abbreviations
C Carbon CAC Critical aggregation concentration FDA Food and Drug Administration mPEG Methyl PEG PAMAM Poly-amidoamine PEG Polyethylene glycol PEG-b-PAMA Poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly((2-N,N-dimethylamino)ethyl
methacrylate) PEG-PLGA Poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) Si Silicon

5.1 Introduction

Polyethylene glycol (PEG), commercially known as Macrogol, is a polyether com­posed of repeated ethylene glycol units [–(CH2CH2O)n] (D’Souza and Shegokar
2016). It is synthesized via anionic polymerization of ethylene oxide and a hydroxyl
initiator such as water, ethylene glycol, or any diols. Alternatively, it can be obtained by ring-opening polymerization of epoxyethane. Commercially, PEG is available with different degrees of polymerization and activated functional groups yielding variable derivatives that are characterized by their molecular weights ranging from hundreds to several thousands of Daltons, typically from 200 to 6000 (Abuchowski etal. 1977; Thomas etal. 2014; Chen etal. 2005). The numerical designation of PEGs generally indicates their average molecular weight.
PEG is inert, nonimmunogenic, nonantigenic, and biocompatible with a well­established human safety prole; additionally, it has excellent hydration capacity and water solubility. It is approved by the US-FDA for versatile pharmaceutical applications and classied as generally regarded as a safe (GRAS) polymer (D’Souza and Shegokar 2016; Bhadra etal. 2002; Mohapatra etal. 2019; Luong etal. 2016; Suk et al. 2016; Knop etal. 2010). Moreover, PEG is an uncharged, amphiphilic, exible polymer (Sanchez Armengol etal. 2022; Kulhari etal. 2011). These properties make it suitable for an extensive range of drug-delivery applica­tions and technologies. For example, it has been used in dermatological products, tablets, soft gelatin capsules, suppositories, and parenterals (D’Souza and Shegokar
2016). The use of PEG was later extended to conjugate (PEGylate) drugs and pro-
teins (Abuchowski etal. 1977), and this concept was then applied to different types of nanocarriers, as PEG imparts steric stabilization of colloids with the added advantage of escaping the immune defense mechanisms of the host as a result of low immunogenicity (Sanchez Armengol etal. 2022).
5 PEGylated Nanocarriers forSolubilization
Fig. 5.1 Examples of marketed PEGylated bioactives
Fig. 5.2 Some PEGelated polymers for drug delivery. * Yin etal. (2009), ** Tamura etal. (2009),
***
Yang etal. (2007a)
139
5.1.1 Rational forPEGylation ofDrugs/Drugs Nanocarriers
PEG can be used to PEGylate a wide range of bioactive and their carriers, including small molecular weight drug molecules, peptides and proteins, micro- and nanopar­ticles (Otsuka etal. 2003; Wattendorf and Merkle 2008; Karakoti etal. 2011; Jokerst etal. 2011), polymers (Joralemon et al. 2010; Freichels etal. 2011), oligonucle­otides (Ravelli etal. 2012), in addition to nanocarriers (Howard etal. 2008). Some PEGylated bioactives currently marketed (González etal. 2011) are illustrated in Fig.5.1, whereas Fig.5.2 shows some PEGylated biodegradable polymers that have been investigated as encapsulating materials for several drugs (Elbert and Hubbell
1996). Concerning nanocarriers, PEGylation proves to be the most successful
method of surface modication (Vllasaliu et al. 2014) to provide enhanced properties.
PEGylation imparts desirable pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics proper­ties to drugs and drug carriers (Sanchez Armengol etal. 2022; Ravelli etal. 2012; Mirkin and Taton 2000; Hussain etal. 2019; Owens and Peppas 2006; Suk etal.
2016; Karra and Benita 2012; Elbert and Hubbell 1996; Awasthi etal. 2004; Ho and
Gibaldi 2013; D’Souza and Shegokar 2016; Roberts et al. 2002; Vllasaliu et al.
2014; Sweet etal. 2009; Fung etal. 1997; Mozar and Chowdhury 2018), eventually
enhancing pharmaceutical and therapeutic performance, particularly in cancer diag­nosis and therapy as shown in Fig.5.3. While this chapter focuses on the solubiliza­tion effect exerted by PEG on the PEGylated species, other chapters are devoted to discussing other results.
140
Fig. 5.3 Enhanced pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic effects of PEGylated drugs, nanocarriers, and drugs loaded into nanocarriers
R. S. H. Mansour et al.

5.1.2 PEG Solubility Characteristics

PEG is readily soluble in aqueous media. Due to its hydrophilicity, it has high water binding capacity as each ethylene oxide unit can bind two to three water molecules, thereby showing a high hydrodynamic volume (Roberts etal. 2002). This pattern of interaction is unique between PEG and the aqueous environment, unlike the other closely related polymers such as poly(propylene oxide), poly(methylene oxide) (Israelachvili 1997), and isomeric polyacetaldehyde (Harris 1992) as these polymers are considered hydrophobic and water-insoluble (Harris 1992). The Hildebrand solubility parameter of PEG is 10.3 (calcm−3) (Bailey 1990).
While all grades of PEG are soluble in water (handbook of ph ex), the extent of solubility is actually dependent on the chain length (Table5.1). It is observed that the solubility decreases with increasing molecular weight of PEG (Sanchez Armengol etal. 2022). PEGs with molecular weight lower than 800Da are liquid at room temperature and are highly soluble in water, whereas PEGs with molecular weights 1000–2000 are soft waxy substances. PEGs with molecular weight higher than 2000 occur as hard crystalline solids with melting points around 63°C (Otsuka etal. 2003; Chen etal. 2005). Aqueous solutions of high molecular weight grades may form gels (Aranda-Lara etal. 2021).
O.5
5 PEGylated Nanocarriers forSolubilization
Table 5.1 Aqueous solubility and state of variable PEG grades
PEG grade PEG 200 Clear liquid Highly soluble PEG 300 Clear liquid Highly soluble PEG 400 Clear liquid Highly soluble PEG 600 Clear liquid Highly soluble PEG 1000 Semi-cystalline solid 75 PEG 4000 Semi-cystalline solid 55 PEG 10000 Semi-cystalline solid 53 PEG 35000 Semi-cystalline solid 50
a
Gullapalli and Mazzitelli (2015)
b
Wiley-VCH (2012), with permission
State at room temperature
a
Aqueous solubility (g/100g)
141
b
On the other hand, PEG has high solubility in most organic and inorganic sol­vents (Bhadra etal. 2005; Jain etal. 1996). Liquid PEGs are soluble in acetone, alcohols, benzene, glycerin, and glycols, whereas the solid ones are soluble in ace­tone, dichloromethane, ethanol (95%), and methanol, and slightly soluble in ali­phatic hydrocarbons and ether, but insoluble in fats, xed oils, and mineral oil (Aranda-Lara etal. 2021).
5.1.3 PEG asSolubilizer
PEG is known to act as a solubilizer as it enhances the water solubility of hydropho­bic moieties. This effect is mediated through different mechanisms depending on the employed solubilization system.
The high solubility of PEG in both aqueous and organic media gives it the ability to form a monolayer at interfaces, a typical property of amphiphilic molecules, and this property is affected by the molecular weight of PEG rather than its concentra­tion (Bhadra etal. 2003; Pasut and Veronese 2012). PEG can decrease the contact angle of substances. Coating of the gold plate with PEG resulted in a 50° decrease in its contact angle. Similarly, the PEG-coated glass plate exhibited a 34° reduction. Thus, PEG can signicantly decrease the contact angle of hydrophobic materials (Bhadra et al. 2003). These characteristics of PEG make it able to increase the hydrophilicity of hydrophobic drugs (Pasut and Veronese 2012) and decrease the polarity of the aqueous solvent, i.e., act as a co-solvent (Nayak and Panigrahi 2012), thus permitting the aqueous solubilization of hydrophobic drugs.
Upon the use of PEG in preparation for solid dispersions, the solubilization of the drug is aided by permitting the drug to be trapped in the interstitial spaces of PEG when the molten PEG is solidied (Chiou and Riegelman 1971) or the forma­tion of metastable crystalline polymorphs of the drug (Pasut and Veronese 2012; Martinez-Oharriz etal. 1999).
Solubilization by the formation of polymeric or copolymeric PEG micelles also occurs when macromolecular PEG polymers or copolymers are added above their corresponding critical aggregation concentration (CAC), as they readily
142
self- assemble to form micellar-like, nanosized, thermodynamically stable systems with core–shell structures (Hagan etal. 1995; Kazunori etal. 1993; Otsuka etal.
2003). The subsequent effect will facilitate the solubilization of hydrophobic moi-
eties such as drugs, proteins, peptides, and genes (Muralidharan etal. 2014). These micellar systems can increase the solubilization of hydrophobic drugs (Otsuka etal.
2003). In the case of PEG copolymers, the PEG shell ensures stabilization in an
aqueous medium (Savić etal. 2006). Unlike these systems, surfactant micelles tend to precipitate the drug upon dilution by the blood, as the surfactant concentration will drop below its critical micelle concentration.
R. S. H. Mansour et al.
5.1.4 PEGylation ofDrugs/Drugs Nanocarriers
forSolubility Enhancement
Good water solubility is a prerequisite for the therapeutic utility of bioactiveness. PEG is the most commonly employed polymer to conjugate moieties targeting their aqueous solubility enhancement within this context. PEGylation is considered a cornerstone in increasing the aqueous solubility of small molecular weight drugs, proteins, and nanocarriers.

5.2 Water-Soluble PEGylated Small Molecule Drugs

In this section, some examples of small molecule drug PEGylation for the sake of drug solubility enhancement are illustrated.
PEGylation of taxol at its 7-OH functionality via a urethane or carbonate link­age produced highly water-soluble taxol derivatives. The solubility of PEG 350 and PEG 750 derivatives was 1.87×10−3 mmol/mL, which is much higher than the native taxol with a solubility value of 3×102nM.The higher molecular weight PEG derivatives (2000 and 5000) resulted in a superior solubility of (0.1mmol/ mL), which is approximately 30,000 times that of native taxol (Greenwald etal. 1995).
The aqueous solubility of the poorly water-soluble paclitaxel was also enhanced by PEGylation. The estimated solubility of it is 10–20μM. In one study, esterication with PEG 5000 increased the solubility to 120mg/mL (Lee etal. 2005). Another study showed that the oral bioavailability of PEGylated paclitaxel in rats was 3.94- fold higher than that of non-PEGylated paclitaxel (Choi and Jo 2004).
PEGylation of curcumin was attempted to increase its dissolution rate and solu­bility. The poor water solubility of curcumin limits its use for treating corneal bacte­rial infections. For increasing solubility, curcumin was conjugated to PEG 6000. The solubility of PEGylated curcumin was increased up to 93±3.2% compared to curcumin (Hanif etal. 2022).
5 PEGylated Nanocarriers forSolubilization
143

5.3 Soluble PEGylated Proteins/Enzymes

It is well known that the attachment of PEG can be utilized to improve water solu­bility, but it could also enhance the solubility of moieties in organic solvents. Both effects are helpful for the enhancement of the solubility of proteins/enzymes in both types of solvents. The latter effect is of particular importance in the enhancement of enzyme activity in dry organic solvents (Harris 1992). In 1985, Veronese and co­workers were the rst to introduce a surface modication of proteins by PEG (Veronese etal. 1985). PEGylation of enzymes used in organic solvents was dem­onstrated in 1986 (Inada etal. 1986).
5.3.1 PEGylated Proteins Soluble Under
Physiological Conditions
Many proteins can be used as therapeutic agents; nevertheless, the utility of some of these is limited by their poor water solubility. A classic example of PEGylated water-soluble proteins is the uricase enzyme. Humans lack the enzyme uricase, or urate oxidase, which can be used to treat gout. Nevertheless, there are some chal­lenges for the practical use of this enzyme, including its insolubility in water. The rst U.S. patent claiming “water-soluble nonimmunogenic polypeptide composi­tions” was issued in 1979. It described a PEGylated uricase (Davis etal. 1979). A water-soluble PEGylated recombinant mammalian uricase possessing sufcient solubility, in addition to other desirable properties, was developed. The enzyme PEGylated with PEG-10000 was soluble under physiological conditions to enable good bioavailability, unlike the native enzyme, which was soluble only at high pH values (Williams etal. 2003; Sherman etal. 2004).

5.3.2 Organic Solvent–Soluble PEGylated Proteins/Enzymes

In industrial biotechnology, organic solvents are frequently employed in enzymatic reactions as an alternative to aqueous media. This approach offers valuable advantages such as enhanced solubilization of hydrophobic substrates, shifting the thermodynamic equilibrium to favor synthesis over hydrolysis, and suppressing water-dependent side reactions (Carrea and Riva 2000). The main obstacles to the employment of this approach are the low stability, solubility, and catalytic activity of the enzymes in organic media as they tend to denature and precipitate (Stepankova etal. 2013).
Modied enzymes were demonstrated to dissolve in organic solvents (Inada etal. 1986); consequently, PEGylated enzymes were prepared and exhibited solu­bility, stability, and catalytic activity in organic media due to both the hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of PEGs (Stepankova etal. 2013; Castillo etal. 2006,
2008; Kwon etal. 1999; Hernaiz etal. 1997; Castellanos etal. 2005).
144
Fig. 5.4 Formation of the protein nanoparticles mediated by enhanced solubility of the protein in organic solvents through PEGylation [(Radi etal. 2016) with permission]
R. S. H. Mansour et al.
A study demonstrated the solubilization of lysozyme in organic solvents by PEGylation with methyl PEG (mPEG) derivatives. This modication leads to an increase in the solubility of lysozyme in organic solvents such as dichloromethane while preserving its native structure. Subsequently, the enhanced solubility in organic solvents permitted the employment of an emulsion-based solvent evapora­tion method to form enzyme nanoparticles (Fig.5.4) (Radi etal. 2016).

5.4 Water-Soluble PEGylated Drug Nanocarriers

Due to many favorable characteristics (Md etal. 2019; Ndlovu etal. 2019; Gorain etal. 2018; Hussain etal. 2017a, b; Tran etal. 2017; Albanese etal. 2012), nanocar­riers offer various benets (Gao etal. 2018; Khan etal. 2018; Choudhury et al.
2018; Hussain etal. 2018; Howard etal. 2008; Xia etal. 2013; Shi etal. 2017) in
cancer diagnosis and therapy. Despite their paramount pharmaceutical and thera­peutic applications, the signicance of nanocarriers is limited due to their short plasma half-lives, low solubility, and low biocompatibility, among other reasons. Surface modication of nanocarriers is usually required to enhance their properties, and PEG has been proven to have a tremendous benecial inuence on the charac­teristics of nanocarriers (Vllasaliu etal. 2014; Karra and Benita 2012), including the enhancement of their solubility and that of the drug they carry (Fig.5.3). Indeed, among all the polymers tested for surface modication of nanocarriers, PEG and PEG-copolymers are currently the most ideal, widely recognized, popular, and effective (Ravelli etal. 2012; Joralemon et al. 2010; Howard etal. 2008; Bhadra etal. 2002).
5 PEGylated Nanocarriers forSolubilization
145

5.4.1 Water-Soluble PEGylated Silicon Nanocarriers

The uorescent properties of silicon (Si) nanoparticles are interesting for sensing and tagging applications (Erogbogbo etal. 2008). They have potential use in cellu­lar and assay labeling techniques, as well as in deep-tissue imaging (Alivisatos
2004; Bruchez etal. 1998; Michalet etal. 2005; Pinaud etal. 2006), in addition to a
diverse range of materials and cell culture applications (Sudeep etal. 2008). The solubility of Si nanoparticles in water is crucial for utilizing them in biological applications. Surface modication of Si nanoparticles with water-soluble function­alities has been attempted with amines (Alivisatos 2004; Bruchez et al. 1998; Michalet etal. 2005; Pinaud etal. 2006; Rosso-Vasic etal. 2008; Tilley etal. 2005) carboxylic acids (He etal. 2009), and poly(acrylic acid) (Li and Ruckenstein 2004).
PEGylation of Si nanoparticles has also been described to render them soluble in aqueous media as well as organic solvents. Si particles PEGylated by PEG 1100 were successfully prepared and yielded optically clear solutions in many solvents, including water, methanol, and chloroform. Moreover, these nanoparticles could be stored as solids and then redispersed readily in the same solvents (Sudeep etal.
2008). In another study, water-soluble Si nanoparticles were obtained through
PEGylation with PEG 2000 (Xu etal. 2015).

5.4.2 Water-Soluble PEGylated Carbon Nanotubes

Like Si nanoparticles, PEGylation of carbon nanotubes (C nanotubes) is necessary to render them more water-soluble (Ravelli et al. 2012; Zhao et al. 2005; Balasubramanian and Burghard 2010), permitting their biological and medicinal applications. C nanotubes are potentially used in targeted drug therapy, chemical and biological imaging, and sensing (Lacerda etal. 2006; Madani etal. 2011; Elhissi etal. 2012; Prato etal. 2008; Liu etal. 2007). The low solubility and susceptibility of C nanotubes in biological media and other obstacles limit their utility (Bottini et al. 2011; Hong et al. 2006; Liu et al. 2008). Novel water-soluble PEGylated single- walled C nanotubes were prepared and provided a means of attaching drugs. The study showed that a specic extent of coverage of PEG chains on nanotubes was both necessary and sufcient to impart aqueous solubility of the nanotubes without aggregation, and PEG chains extending into the water were responsible for the enhanced solubility (Liu etal. 2007). In another study, the suspendability in water of single-walled C nanotubes PEGylated with PEG 400 was superior to that of the native nanotubes in water and in water-PEG 400 media. Figure5.5 demon­strates that the nonfunctionalized nanotubes immediately precipitated from the water solution and formed a dispersion in the water–PEG 400 medium that was stable for only a few minutes. In contrast, the PEGylated nanotubes produced a more stable dispersion. The study also conrmed that the higher the PEGylation degree, the higher the dispersion stability (Ravelli etal. 2013).
Figure 5.6 shows another single-walled C nanotube that was noncovalently func­tionalized with uorescein-PEG 5000 and exhibited excellent water solubility at
146
Fig. 5.5 Improved suspendability of single-walled C nanotubes by PEGylation [(Ravelli etal.
2013), reproduced with permission]
R. S. H. Mansour et al.
different pH values attributed to PEG chains (Nakayama-Ratchford etal. 2007). In another attempt, single-walled C nanotubes that were noncovalently functionalized with phospholipid-PEG 2000 or 5000 were prepared to enhance the aqueous solu­bility of the nanotubes, and aqueous solubility of 0.84mg/mL was achieved for PEG 5000 conjugates (Hadidi etal. 2011). C nanotubes covalently functionalized with PEG 600 were also prepared, resulting in an aqueous solubility of 5.9mg/mL (Zhao etal. 2005). PEG 800 or PEG 750 monomethyl ether functionalized double­walled carbon nanotubes exhibited good aqueous solubility and formed stable sus­pensions in water, whereas the unfunctionalized nanotubes immediately settled in water, PEG 800, and PEG 750 monomethyl ether. The saturated aqueous concentra­tions of PEG 800 and PEG 750 monomethyl ether PEGylated nanotubes were
0.86mg/mL (equivalent nanotubes concentration of 0.36mg/mL) and 0.93mg/mL (equivalent nanotubes concentration of 0.37mg/mL), respectively (Nie etal. 2010).
5.4.3 Water-Soluble PEGylated Metal/Metal
Oxides Nanoparticles
Many factors, including their water instability, hinder the diagnostic and therapeutic applications of metal nanoparticles. Accordingly, surface modication of these inor­ganic nanoparticles is crucial to impart the desired properties, including the enhance­ment of solubility in physiological media (Tilley et al. 2005). PEGylation of inorganic nanoparticles can modify their properties and overcome the limitations of their applicability (Otsuka etal. 2003).
PEGylation of gold nanoparticles to provide water solubility has been described in the literature, such as gold nanoparticles containing a noncovalently bound sili­con phthalocyanine (Cheng etal. 2008, 2011a, b; Meyers et al. 2015) and gold