Membrane-templated nanotubes as potential candidates for drug delivery applications

(eng) Through the first steps of the design of new potential nanovectors candidates for gene delivery applications, multifunctionalized tubular nanostructures were prepared by combining several known assembly techniques, and the different mechanisms occurring at each step of the fabrication process were investigated. The strategy used for preparing those tubular vectors was mainly based on the membrane-templated strategy, combined with the layer-by-layer (LbL) adsorption and the electrodeposition techniques. Based on electrostatic interaction, well-defined multilayered nanotubes composed of a therapeutic agent, namely DNA, and a hydrolytically biodegradable polycation, were first fabricated within and liberated from the nanopores of a membrane. The ability to easily multifunctionalized tubular DNA-based nanocarriers was investigated in a second step. Polypyrrole tubular shells of well controlled dimensions were electropolymerized with functional groups on their outer surface to covalently graft protein-repellent polymer chains, and the polymeric tubes were successfully filled with the therapeutic agent to form hybrid multisegmented nanostructures with spatially-resolved functionalities. A supplementary degree of complexity was reached by capping or loading the nanostructures with colloidal particles for which the chemistry can be tuned for release or targeting purposes.