Sponge-type nanocarriers (spongosomes) are produced upon dispersion of a liquid crystalline sponge phase formed by self-assembly of an amphiphilic lipid in excess aqueous phase. The inner organization of the spongosomes is built-up by randomly ordered bicontinuous lipid membranes and their surfaces are stabilized by alginate chains providing stealth properties and colloidal stability. The present study elaborates spongosomes for improved encapsulation of Brucea javanica oil (BJO), a traditional Chinese medicine that may strongly inhibit proliferation and metastasis of various cancers. The inner structural organization and the morphology characteristics of BJO-loaded nanocarriers at varying quantities of BJO were determined by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (Cryo-TEM), small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Additionally, the drug loading and drug release profiles for BJO-loaded spongosome systems also were determined. We found that the sponge-type liquid crystalline lipid membrane organization provides encapsulation efficiency rate of BJO as high as 90%. In vitro cytotoxicity and apoptosis study of BJO spongosome nanoparticles with A549 cells demonstrated enhanced anti-tumor efficiency. These results suggest potential clinical applications of the obtained safe spongosome formulations.

Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht Centre for Materials and Coastal Research D 21502 Geesthacht Germany

Institut Galien Paris Sud CNRS UMR 8612 Univ Paris Sud Université Paris Saclay LabEx LERMIT F 92296 Châtenay Malabry cedex France

Institute of Physics ELI Beamlines Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Na Slovance 1999 2 CZ 18221 Prague Czech Republic

Laboratory for Soft Matter Electron Microscopy Bayreuth Institute of Macromolecular Research University of Bayreuth D 95440 Bayreuth Germany

National Center for Protein Science Shanghai and Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology Shanghai 200237 PR China

Shanghai Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Chemistry State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering and Institute of Applied Chemistry School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering East China University of Science and Technology Shanghai 200237 PR China

Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Shanghai 200437 PR China PR China

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