Hollow hyaluronic acid particles by competition between adhesive and cohesive properties of catechol for anticancer drug carrier.

The marine mussel-inspired properties of catechol, adhesiveness and cohesiveness, have been applied with pH control to fabricate hollow particles using a silica core and catechol-modified hyaluronic acid (HA-CA) shell for an anticancer drug carrier. The competition between adhesive and cohesive properties of catechol with different pH values leads to various structures, a rough catechol modified HA (HA-CA) shell at pH 5.5, monodisperse spherical silica@HA-CA particles at pH 7.4, and an amorphous HA-CA layer at pH 8.5. The redox transition of catechol with pH is a key factor modulating the behavior of the HA-CA shell on the silica core, which induces strong adhesion of HA-CA to silica at pH 5.5 and structural hardness with cohesive coupling at pH 7.4. In addition, after core removal, the hollow HA-CA particles are followed by loading of anticancer drug, doxorubicin (DOX). DOX loaded HA-CA particles show pH-triggered release behavior and dramatic cytotoxic effect indicating that they are a promising novel anticancer drug carrier.