biodegradable polymeric micelles for biomedical applications

Recently, biodegradable polymers based on natural fatty acids have been extensively employed in the field of biomedicine. however, concerns remain with respect to their harmful effects. current work was designed to disclose the biocompatibility of palmitic acid conjugated peg (mpeg- palmitic acid) designed for biomedical application. due to its amphiphilic feature, mpeg- palmitic acid easily undergoes self-assembly to form micelles in an aqueous media. a biocompatibility study indicated that mpeg- palmitic acid had no harmful effects on artemia salina since no mortality rate of nauplii was found, and the safety of mpeg- palmitic acid is thus underlined. in addition, at a high concentration of tested polymeric materials, only 3% hemolysis was observed and obviously prove the hemocompatibility of mpeg- palmitic acid. all treated mice survived, after receiving mpeg- palmitic acid through oral administration, and due to its safety, they can be used in biomedicine. mtt assay also confirms the biocompatibility of palmitic acid conjugated peg. these results offer compelling evidence for the usefulness of mpeg- palmitic acid as a promising and nontoxic polymeric biomaterial for biomedical application.