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Cytotoxicity of nonionic amphiphilic copolymers

  • Medical Polymers
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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the relationship between the structure of an amphiphilic nonionic polymer and its toxicity for cells (cytotoxicity) growing in a culture. To this end, 16 polymers of different architectures and chemical structures are tested, namely, linear triblock copolymers of poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(propylene oxide)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (Pluronics); diblock copolymers of propylene oxide, ethylene oxide, and hyperbranched polyglycerol; alternating and diblock copolymers of ethylene oxide and dimethylsiloxane; and two surfactants containing linear (Brij-35) or branched (Triton X-100) aliphatic chains. Polymer-cell interaction is assayed in a culture medium in the absence of serum. Effective concentrations of the polymers causing 50% cell death, EC50, vary within three orders of magnitude. Toxic concentrations of the alternating copolymer, Triton X-100, and Brij-35 are lower than their CMC values. In contrast, all block copolymers, regardless of their chemical structures, become toxic at concentrations above the CMC; that is, they acquire cytotoxicity only in the micellar form. The EC50 values of the copolymers depend on their hydrophilic-liphophilic balance (HLB) through the following empirical formula: EC50 × 106 = 8.71 × HLB2.1. This relationship makes it possible to predict the cytotoxic concentration region of a block copolymer of a known structure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Chemistry, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991, Russia

    O. A. Budkina, T. V. Demina, T. Yu. Dorodnykh, N. S. Melik-Nubarov & I. D. Grozdova

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  1. O. A. Budkina
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  2. T. V. Demina
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  3. T. Yu. Dorodnykh
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  4. N. S. Melik-Nubarov
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  5. I. D. Grozdova
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to I. D. Grozdova.

Additional information

Original Russian Text © O.A. Budkina, T.V. Demina, T.Yu. Dorodnykh, N.S. Melik-Nubarov, I.D. Grozdova, 2012, published in Vysokomolekulyarnye Soedineniya, Ser. A, 2012, Vol. 54, No. 9, pp. 1385–1395.

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 09-03-00445.

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Budkina, O.A., Demina, T.V., Dorodnykh, T.Y. et al. Cytotoxicity of nonionic amphiphilic copolymers. Polym. Sci. Ser. A 54, 707–717 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0965545X12080020

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