No abstract

Modifying nanoparticles with targeting peptides which can specifically bind to intestinal epithelium was recently suggested as a strategy to further enhance their ability for the oral delivery of macromolecular drugs. However, few studies were focused on comprehensive understanding of the uptake and transport processes as well as the underlying molecular signaling pathways mediated by the ligand modification. In the present study, the mechanisms of cellular uptake and the tight junction opening associated with the trimethyl chitosan based nanoparticles (M-NPs) and their goblet cell-targeting CSK (CSKSSDYQC) peptide modified nanoparticles (CSK-M-NPs) were investigated. Compared with single ion cross-linked nanoparticles (S NPs), M-NPs and CSK-M-NPs, prepared with multiple agents, exhibited superior stability which could effectively protect drugs against the degradation of trypsin. Caveolae-mediated endocytosis and macropinocytosis were involved in the intracellular uptake of both M-NPs and CSK-M-NPs on Caco-2/HT29-MTX cocultured cells. However, CSK peptide modification could further induce clathrin-mediated endocytosis of the NPs. Intriguingly, most endocytosis subpathways have been altered after CSK peptide modification. Moreover, the opening of epithelial tight junctions was investigated at both protein and gene levels. The results indicated that both M-NPs and CSK-M-NPs could transiently and reversibly open the epithelial tight junctions via the C-Jun NH2-terminal kinase-dependent pathway. However, CSK peptide modification enabled a more rapid opening and recovering of the tight junctions. In all, the enhanced uptake and transport capacity of nanoparticles after CSK peptide modification may be attributed to the alteration of internalization pathways and the stronger ability of opening tight junctions.

No abstract

Sufficient mucosal permeability is the bottleneck problem in developing an efficient intestinal delivery system of insulin. Cell-penetrating peptide-based nanocomplexes for the enhanced mucosal permeation of insulin were developed in this study. Penetratin, a cell-penetrating peptide was site-specifically modified with a bis-β-cyclodextrin group. Insulin-loaded nanocomplexes were prepared by self-assembly using penetratin or its bis-β-cyclodextrin modified derivative (P-bis-CD). A stronger intermolecular interaction and higher complex stability were observed for P-bis-CD nanocomplexes than the penetratin nanocomplexes. P-bis-CD nanocomplexes were significantly more efficient for the permeation of insulin as compared to the penetratin nanocomplexes both in vitro and in situ. Interestingly, different cellular internalization mechanisms were observed for the two nanocomplexes. In diabetic rats, intestinal administration of P-bis-CD nanocomplexes resulted in a prominent hypoglycemic effect which lasted for 6 h with maximum inhibitory rate at 60%. The relative pharmacological availability and bioavailability of P-bis-CD nanocomplexes were 10.6% and 7.1%, which were 3.0-fold and 2.3-fold higher than that of penetratin nanocomplexes, respectively. In addition, no sign of toxicity was observed after 7 consecutive days of administration of P-bis-CD nanocomplexes with endotoxin. These results demonstrated that P-bis-CD was a promising epithelium permeation enhancer for insulin and suggested that the chemical modification of cell penetration peptides was a feasible strategy to enhance their potential.

The SLNs formed by SA and TP as the solid lipids may be a promising carrier for oral delivery of peptide drugs.