Molecular Precision and Enzymatic Degradation: From Readily to Undegradable Polymeric Micelles by Minor Structural Changes

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Merav Segal ; Ram AvineryMarina Buzhor ; Rona Shaharabani ; Assaf J. Harnoy ; Einat Tirosh ; Roy Beck ; Roey J. Amir
• 刊名：Journal of the American Chemical Society
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：January 18, 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：139
• 期：2
• 页码：803-810
• 全文大小：702K
• ISSN：1520-5126

文摘

Studying the enzymatic degradation of synthetic polymers is crucial for the design of suitable materials for biomedical applications ranging from advanced drug delivery systems to tissue engineering. One of the key parameters that governs enzymatic activity is the limited accessibility of the enzyme to its substrates that may be collapsed inside hydrophobic domains. PEG-dendron amphiphiles can serve as powerful tools for the study of enzymatic hydrolysis of polymeric amphiphiles due to the monodispersity and symmetry of the hydrophobic dendritic block, which significantly simplifies kinetic analyses. Using these hybrids, we demonstrate how precise, minor changes in the hydrophobic block are manifested into tremendous changes in the stability of the assembled micelles toward enzymatic degradation. The obtained results emphasize the extreme sensitivity of self-assembly and its great importance in regulating the accessibility of enzymes to their substrates. Furthermore, the demonstration that the structural differences between readily degradable and undegradable micelles are rather minor, points to the critical roles that self-assembly and polydispersity play in designing biodegradable materials.