Abstract
The objective of this study is to discuss the thermosensitive hydrogel based on mPEG poly(L-glutamate)s sustain delivery of anticancer drug. A series of amphiphilic diblock copolymer were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of γ-ethyl-L-glutamate N-carboxyanhydrides, using mPEG-NH2 as macroinitiator. The copolymer were characterized by 1H-NMR, ATR-FTIR and determined successfully synthesized. Through temperature changed in response to observe material diversification, we could know the polypeptides containing more ethyl groups showed significantly low critical gelation temperatures (CGTs). Circular dichroism (CD), ATR-FTIR, 13C-NMR, CMC and TEM results indicated that the mechanism of the hydrogel formation. Live/dead and MTT assay studies suggested acceptable biocompatibility of our materials in vitro and the mass loss of hydrogel was accelerated in presence of elastase. Moreover, the gel was tried as injectable implants to encapsulate anticancer drug, curcumin(CUR), and the results demonstrated that the CUR-incorporated hydrogel could efficiently inhibit the tumor cell growth. We believed the thermosenstive polypeptide hydrogels has potential for biomedical applications due to its good biodegradability, biocompatibility, and in situ gelation behavior.