A two-component micelle with emergent pH responsiveness by mixing dilauroyl phosphocholine and deoxycholic acid and its delivery of proteins into the cytosol

Providing appropriate pH responsiveness for drug delivery nanoparticles is one of the major issues in developing a new generation of delivery systems. This paper reports that, when phosphocholine and a bile acid were mixed, the resultant two-component micelle gained pH responsiveness, while the individual components did not show any such responsiveness. The pH responsiveness was shown to be determined by the chemical structure, especially the positions and chirality of the OH groups, of the bile acid, and the sensitivity was determined by the alkyl chain length of the phosphocholine. The best combination for evading endocytosis was dilauroyl phosphocholine (DLPC) and deoxycholic acid (DA). Small-angle X-ray scattering revealed that the pH responsiveness was related to the change of surface hydrophobicity, namely, decreasing pH led to protonation of the carboxylic acid, resulting in aggregation of the preceding micelles. We assume that particles that become hydrophobic in this way can start interacting with the endocytotic bilayer, which eventually leads to rupture of the endocytotic vesicle. This mechanism is well supported by the finding that fluorescein-conjugated ovalbumin proteins were transported into the cytosol when they were co-administered with DLPC/DA.