Abstract
A lactosecarrying polystyrene (PVLA) modified with 125I was found to have highly specific interaction with hepatic parenchymal cells in vivo. This specific interaction with liver cells is the result of the recognition of the galactose moieties on the polymer by asialoglycoprotein receptors on hepatocytes. An important physical property of the amphiphilic PVLA is the ability to form super molecular assembly in aqueous solution due to the presence of water soluble lactose residue on hydrophobic polystyrene backbone. We demonstrated that PVLA could form inclusion compound with various model drugs and could serve as a drug carrier with hepatocyte-targeting ability. The high specificity in tissue distribution of radioactivity labeled PVLA found in this study supports our claim that PVLA may be used as highly specific targeting super molecular assembly for in vivo drug delivery to liver.
