preparation and physicochemical characterization of biodegradable mpeg-pcl coreshell micelles for delivery of artemisinin

Background: artemisinin is a sesquiterpene lactone chemical extract from artemisia annua, is poorly resolvable in water and a fast-acting blood active in treating the acute attack of malaria. methods: artemisinin was encapsulated within mpeg-pcl micelles with a single-step nano-precipitation method, leading to formation of art/ mpeg-pcl micelles. mpeg-pcl copolymers was characterized in vitro by hnmr, ftir and dsc techniques. copolymers with artemisinin were self-assembled into micelles in aqueous solution. the consequential micelles were further characterized by various techniques such as dls and afm. results: the results exhibited the successful formation of spherical artemisinin-loaded micelles. the artemisinin-loaded micelles showed high loading efficiency. the encapsulation efficiency of artemisinin was 63±2.31%. in vitro release of artemisinin from artemisinin-entrapped micelles followed remarkably sustained release profile. conclusion: the results indicated that the successful formulation of artemisinin loaded mpeg-pcl micelles can improve the drug delivery of artemisinin. the results showed that nanomicelles can be promising drug delivery systems for sustaining release of artemisinin.