Cysteine modified and bile salt based micelles: preparation and application as an oral delivery system for paclitaxel.

The aim of the present study is to construct a cysteine modified polyion complex micelles made of Pluronic F127-chitosan (PF127-CS), Pluronic F127-cysteine (PF127-cysteine) and sodium cholate (NaC) and to evaluate the potential of the micelles as an oral drug delivery system for paclitaxel. Systematic studies on physicochemical properties including size distribution, zeta-potential and morphology were conducted to validate the formation of micelle structure. Compared with Pluronic micelles, drug-loading capacity of PF127-CS/PF127-cysteine/NaC micelles was increased from 3.35% to 12.77%. Both the critical micelle concentration and the stability test confirmed that the PF127-CS/PF127-cysteine/NaC micelles were more stable in aqueous solution than sodium cholate micelles. Pharmacokinetic study demonstrated that when oral administration the area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC0-∞) and the absolute bioavailability of paclitaxel-loaded micelles were five times greater than that of the paclitaxel solution. In general, PF127-CS/PF127-cysteine/NaC micelles were proven to be a potential oral drug delivery system for paclitaxel.