Permeability of surface-modified polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers across Caco-2 cell monolayers

Aim of this study was to prepare polyamine-conjugated PAMAM dendrimers and study their permeability across Caco-2 cell monolayers. Polyamines, namely, arginine and ornithine were conjugated to the amine terminals of the G4 PAMAM dendrimers by Fmoc synthesis. The apical-to-basolateral (AB) and basolateral-to-apical (BA) apparent permeability coefficients (Papp) for the PAMAM dendrimers increased by conjugating the dendrimers with both of the polyamines. The enhancement in permeability was dependent on the dendrimer concentration and duration of incubation. The correlation between monolayer permeability and the decrease in transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) with both the PAMAM dendrimers and the polyamine-conjugated dendrimers suggests that paracellular transport is one of the mechanisms of transport across the epithelial cells. Cytotoxicity of the polyamine-conjugated dendrimers was evaluated in Caco-2 cells by MTT (methylthiazoletetrazolium) assay. Arginine-conjugated dendrimers were slightly more toxic than PAMAM dendrimer as well as ornithine-conjugated dendrimers. Though investigations on the possible involvement of other transport mechanisms are in progress, results of the present study suggest the potential of dendrimer–polyamine conjugates as drug carriers to increase the oral absorption of drugs.