Abstract
Although quercetin is low cytotoxicity to normal human cells, quercetin is effective against the growth of some tumors. Given the poor blood stability in vivo, insolubility, low delivery efficiency, and poor medicinal properties of quercetin, we developed a local drug delivery system comprising quercetin core's polymer micelles and F127 hydrogel stroma. In vitro evaluation revealed that quercetin core's polymer micelles have excellent antitumor activity and could inhibit the multiplication of 4T1 breast cancer cells through the apoptosis pathway. Meanwhile, a rheological study revealed that the quercetin core's micelles gel possessed excellent properties of hydrogel formation and injectability of liquid preparation as a local drug delivery system after the quercetin core's polymer micelles were loaded into the F127 hydrogel stroma. Our study findings indicated that the drug stability and stable release capacity of quercetin were vastly improved with the composite formulation of the micelles gel. This not only realized drug injectability but also drug storage in the semisolid form, which is a more comfortable and slower drug-releasing form that will eventually exert a proper therapeutic effect. In conclusion, quercetin micellar hydrogel system has better antitumor activity and excellent hydrogel properties.