Fabrication, Characterization, and Cytotoxicity Assessment of Catanionic Surfactant Vesicles for Nanotherapeutic Applications

Abstract

Catanionic surfactant vesicles (SVs) show promise in anti-cancer therapeutic applications due to their high functionalizability and long-term stable size. In this study, anionic-dominant SVs (70:30 SDBS:CTAT) were developed as a drug carrier and evaluated for size stability, cytotoxicity, and functionalization. Bare vesicles exhibited measurable cytotoxicity, and surface modifications such as PEG-2000 and folate are shown to have effects on cell uptake. Microfluidic preparation of the bare SVs are shown to enable consistent and controlled size to demonstrate production-scale fabrication. These findings highlight SVs as a biocompatible drug delivery platform capable of large-scale production, and provides a foundation for further work into anti-cancer targeted nano-therapeutics.