Near-Infrared Light-Responsive Cubic Vesicles for Enhanced Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability and Drug Delivery

¹ Department of Pharmacy, Hangzhou TCM Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310007, Zhejiang Province, China; Department of Pharmacy, Hangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 310007, Zhejiang Province, China,

² Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou 310022, Zhejiang Province, China; Hangzhou Institute of Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou 310022, Zhejiang Province, China,

JCNR 2024 , 8(12), 223–233; https://doi.org/10.26689/jcnr.v8i12.9076

© 2024 by the Authors. Licensee Whioce Publishing, Singapore. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

Abstract

Delivering therapeutic agents to the central nervous system (CNS) is challenging due to the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This study presents a novel approach utilizing near-infrared (NIR) light-responsive gold-coated cubic vesicles (Auslip) to modulate BBB permeability and enhance drug delivery to glioma cells. Upon NIR activation, Auslip releases encapsulated agents and transiently opens the BBB. The results demonstrate that Auslip increases doxorubicin (DOX) delivery to glioma C6 cells in a co-culture model with human brain microvascular endothelial cells (hCMEC/D3). This approach offers a promising strategy for CNS therapeutics by enabling simultaneous BBB opening and drug release through optical stimulation.

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