Nanostructure des particules polymériques :  aspects physiques, chimiques  et biologiques

The goal set to nanotechnologies applied to pharmaceutical sciences is to improve drug delivery and benefits with the help of nanometer-sized vehicles. At this time different types of drug carriers had been proposed. Amongst them, block copolymer nanoparticles (NP) have been designed to allow, at the same time, efficient drug encapsulation and provide surface properties (hydrophilic layer) to the NP which are necessary for its interactions with biological systems by preventing the opsonisation and the subsequent recognition by the mononuclear macrophage system (MPS) and the rapid elimination of the drug carrier. The most prominent polymer architecture in drug delivery application is the linear di-block copolymer architecture, such as poly(ethylene glycol) blocks (PEG) linked to a polyester hydrophobic chain. PEG is the gold standard to add a hydrophilic corona to drug carrier’s surface, but its efficacy is directly linked to its surface organization and surface densities. In spite of limited success of diblock at the clinical stage, few studies have been devoted to other type of architecture such as comb-like copolymers, either for the exploration of new synthesis routes or for the characterization of particles prepared from alternative architecture polymers. We attempted in preamble of this work to define more closely the conceptual and technical framework allowing quantitative determination of PEG surface densities. This review work has been used in the experimental work to define the characterization methods. Several synthesis strategies have been developed for the preparation of comb copolymers in this work. All strategies are based on random copolymerization of dilactide with small epoxy molecules with a pendant group suitable for subsequent PEG grafting, yielding a polyester-co-ether backbone. In a second step, PEG chains have been grafted on available pendant groups (alcohol groups or alkyne) to produce the final comb copolymers. In the first part of the experimental work, esterification reaction by acylation and coupling (the Steglish reaction) allowed the preparation of a first comb-like copolymer library with PEG content varying from 5 to 50 % (w/w). The number of PEG chains (PEG grafting density) was varying while the lengths of the PEG chains and the hydrophobic PLA backbone were kept constant. The library of comb-like polymers was used to prepare nanocarriers with dense PEG brushes at their surface, stability in suspension, and resistance to protein adsorption. The structural properties of nanoparticles (NPs) produced from these polymers by a surfactant-free method were assessed by DLS, zeta potential, and TEM and were found to be controlled by the amount of PEG present in the polymers. A critical transition from a solid NP structure to a soft particle with either a “micelle-like” or “polymer nano-aggregate” structure was observed when the PEG content was between 15 to 25% w/w. This structural transition was found to have a profound impact on the size of the NPs, their surface charge, their stability in suspension in presence of salts as well as on the binding of proteins to the surface of the NPs. The arrangement of the PEG-g-PLA chains at the surface of the NPs was investigated by 1H NMR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). NMR results confirmed that the PEG chains were mostly segregated at the NP surface. Moreover, XPS and NMR allowed the quantification of the PEG chain coverage density at the surface of the solid NPs. Concordance of the results between the two methods was found to be remarkable. Physical-chemical properties of the NPs such as resistance to aggregation in saline environment as well as anti-fouling efficacy, assessed by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), were related to the PEG surface density and ultimately to polymer architecture.  In the second part of this work, grafting of PEG chains on a polyester-co-ether backbone was directly performed using cyclo-addition of PEG azide on pendant alkyne groups. The new strategy was designed to understand the contribution of PEG chains grafted on PLA backbone ends. The new polymer library was composed of PEG-g-PLA with different PEG grafting densities and PEG molecular weights (750, 2000 and 5000 D). PEG chain grafting could only take place on pendant groups with this approach. NPs were produced by different methods of nanoprecipitation, including “flash nanoprecipitation” and microfluidic technology. Some formulation variables such as polymer concentration and speed of mixing were studied in order to observe their effects on NP surface characteristics. Unlike for the first copolymer library, here the NPs size and zeta potential were found to not be much affected by the PEG content (% w/w in polymer). Sizes were also not affected by the PEG chains length. TEM images show round shaped object and as expected sizes were found to decrease with polymer concentration in the organic phase and with a decrease in mixing time of the two phases (for flash nanoprecipitation and microfluidic technology). PEG chain surface densities were assessed by quantitative 1H NMR and XPS. In the third experimental part, we explored the role of polymer architecture on drug encapsulation and release of curcumin from NPs. Curcumin has been chosen as a model with a view to develop a delivery platform to treat diseases involving oxidative stress affecting the CNS. As previously observed with blank NPs, a sharp decrease in curcumin-loaded NP size and morphology change occurred between 15 to 20 % w/w of PEG. Drug loading, Drug loading efficiency and the diffusion coefficients of curcumin in NPs are showing a dependence over the polymer architecture. NPs did not present any significant toxicity when tested in vitro on a neuronal cell line. Moreover, the ability of NPs carrying curcumin to prevent oxidative stress was evidenced and linked to polymer architecture and NPs organization.  In a nutshell, our study showed the intimate relationship between the polymer architecture and the biophysical properties of the resulting NPs and sheds light on new approaches to design efficient NP-based drug carriers. The results obtained lead us to propose PEG-g-PLA comb architecture copolymers for nanomedecine development as an alternative to the predominant polyester-PEG diblock polymers.

Keyphrases: Nanoparticle, Poly(lactic), Poly(ethylene glycol), XPS, NMR, Micelle-like, Click chemsitry, Curcumin, Microcalorimetry