A bolt-like-blocking nanovalve on mesoporous silica nanoparticles for controlled release

A novel bolt-like-blocking nanovalve based on mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) has developed as a drug carrier, using the modified short peptide as a support and the delivery drug as a bridge for fulfilling the blocking process. The peptide-modified nanoparticle MSN-S-S-NAC-Trp combined with the loaded drug can be used as a carrier with no leakage and be triggered for release by appropriate GSH. The peptide-modified nanoparticles have showed no obvious cytotoxicity and can be internalized into L929 cells; moreover, the doxorubicin loaded nanoparticles incubated with HeLa cells have showed GSH-responsive capability and induced cell apoptosis. Since the chain of the modified peptide on the surface of MSN is not long enough to block the channel via self-assembly process, a bolt-like-blocking model is proposed.