pH/NIR-responsive nanocarriers based on mesoporous polydopamine encapsulated gold nanorods for drug delivery and thermo-chemotherapy

Gold nanorods (AuNRs) have potential application value in the field of cancer therapy. However, the poor stability, high dark toxicity, insufficient drug-carrying capacity and photothermal conversion efficiency have limited its practical applications. In this study, we encapsulated AuNRs in mesoporous polydopamine (mPDA) shells. The mPDA has exceptional adhesion, excellent biocompatibility , large specific surface area and favorable photothermal properties, making [email protected] an ideal photothermal composite and drug delivery carrier. [email protected] can generate heat under near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation, which disrupts the intermolecular forces and hydrogen bonds between PDA shell and drug, showing a photothermal enhanced drug release. Furthermore, by using polyethyleneimine (PEI) to seal the pore channels of mPDA, the pH-/NIR-responsive nanocarrier of [email protected] @PEI was fabricated, which shows a high drug loading capacities for DOX to 121.7 mg/g. What's more, by combination of chemotherapy and photothermal therapy , the [email protected] @PEI nanocarrier exhibits significant anticancer effect in vitro . In a word, this carrier demonstrated high drug capacity, excellent photothermal conversion efficiency (55.7%) and pH/NIR stimulation-responsive delivery performance, and promising to become a nanoplatform for multifunctional cancer therapy in the future.