The absence of albumin improves in vitro cellular uptake and disruption of Poloxamer 407-based nanoparticles inside cancer cells

Abstract

Novel nanoparticles based on Poloxamer 407 and vegetable oil were produced by high pressure homogenization. Functionalization of those nanoparticles was made by incorporation of folic acid (FA)-Poloxamer 407 conjugate. These nanoparticles showed suitable characteristics for intravenous therapeutic applications similarly to PEGylated albumin-based nanoparticles, previously described by our research group. Here, we found that the absence of albumin at the interface of Poloxamer 407-based nanoparticles improves the overall process of in vitro cellular uptake and nanoparticles disruption inside cancer cells (folate receptor, FR, positive cells). The results present here suggests that interfacial composition of those nanoparticles is of paramount importance for drug trafficking inside cancer cells.