Title screen

[References: 42 tit.]

Development of delivery systems able to hold and release a combination of bioactive compounds at the target site represents a strategy for improving the therapeutic outcomes and overcome the central issues in the multitherapeutic approach. A delivery system based on polysaccharides suitable for loading a combination of chemotherapeutic drugs, doxorubicin and 5-fluorouracil, at defined weight ratio and deliver them following a pH-dependent kinetics was developed. Nanocomplexes were prepared by polyelectrolytes complexation and characterised in terms of average dimension, morphology, drug content by dynamic light scattering, transmission and scanning microscope and UV-Vis spectroscopy, respectively. The complexes showed a spherical shape with the hydrodynamic diameter between 100 and 130 nm, positive ς-potential, high stability in physiological environment and up to 800 μg of drugs per mg loaded. Release studies demonstrate a pH-dependent trend with high control of the release rate for each compound. In vitro hemocompatibility and not cytotoxicity were observed. In vitro studies showed a significate reduction of the cell viability after contact with the dual-drug loaded complexes than the single-loaded and free-drug formulations demonstrating the synergic effect of the drugs and the advantages of using the complexes. The results show the potential application of the nanosystems for multiple-drug delivery in therapy.