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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol. 2012 Sep 13;5(1):31–48. doi: 10.1002/wnan.1197

Figure 8.

Figure 8

Temperature-triggered micelle assembly controlled cellular uptake by modulation of arginine density. Arginine5-functionalized elastin-like polypeptide diblock copolymers (Arg5-ELPBC) achieved cellular uptake in HeLa cervical cancer cells, as quantified by flow cytometry, comparable to controls at 37 °C in their soluble unimer state, with arginine content below the threshold required to achieve significant cellular internalization. At 42 °C the micelle assembly of Arg5-ELPBC enhanced the local arginine density on the micelle corona, which increased cellular uptake 8-fold over that achieved at 37 °C. Non-functionalized diblock copolymers capable of temperature-triggered micelle assembly (ELPBC) and soluble temperature-insensitive arginine-functionalized unimers (Arg5-ELP) demonstrated negligible change in cellular uptake between 37 and 42 °C. Data adapted with permission from Ref 89 Copyright 2012 American Chemical Society.