The preparation of cationic folic acid and its application in drug delivery system

The cationic folic acid (CFA) was prepared by introducing triethylenetetramine into folic acid with EDCI/NHS and characterized by IR, NMR and mass spectra. It was found that approximately one of two carboxyls in the folic acid molecule was substituted to form CFA. The conversion of γ-carboxyl is found to be 59% higher than 30% of α-carboxyl. The CFA and doxorubicin hydrochloride can be loaded on the ionic shell of PTX-encapsulated micelle to form CFA loaded binary drug carrier via static interaction in aqueous solutions. The successful loading was demonstrated by zeta potential measurement and the drug load amount (DLA) of CFA was measured by HPLC. In vitro cytotoxicity results revealed the CFA drug carrier showed higher cytotoxicity to cancer cell MDA-MB-321 than the binary drug carrier without CFA and the positive control, while it showed lower cytotoxicity to normal cell HUVEC than the positive control, and similar cytotoxicity with the binary drug carrier without CFA. These results as well as confocal laser scanning microscopy observation indicate the synthesized CFA drug carrier possesses active tumor-targeting property.