Fig. 3.

Right: Size distribution expressed as hydrodynamic diameters, of drug-free and drug-loaded bCN micelles (solid lines), with a mean diameter 25 ± 2 nm growing to 35 ± 1 nm and 37 ± 2 nm after encapsulation. No influence of drying on the mean diameter was observed after resuspension the dry dispersions in PBS to the original compositions (doted lines). The corresponding solutions were transparent both before (a1, b1, c1) and after (a2, b2, c2) lyophilization. Left: Turbidity (upper panel) and Z-potential (lower panel) of drug-free and drug-loaded bCN micelles before and after lyophilization and resuspension shows no change in the overall electro-kinetic potential suggesting good stability of the colloidal dispersion. The results from three independent experiments are presented as mean values ± S.D.