Investigation of the Possibilities of Analyzing the Vesicular Structure of PTNS-Based Nanodrugs Using Small-Angle Neutron Scattering Data

The small-angle neutron-scattering spectra of polydisperse populations of unilamellar vesicles are analyzed as functions of the concentration of maltose in a heavy-water solution. The spectra are recorded using a YuMO small-angle spectrometer at the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna, Russia). Two types of nanosystems developed at the Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry are studied. These are a phospholipid-transport nanosystem and the Indolip nanodrug based on a phospholipid-transport nanosystem. The possibilities of obtaining data on the vesicular structure of nanodrugs based on a phospholipid-transport nanosystem from small-angle neutron scattering data are discussed. The computer analysis of small-angle scattering spectra is based on application of the method of separated form factors. The obtained values of the basic structural parameters of these vesicular systems (the average radius of vesicles in the population, the thickness of the bilayer across the membrane, the polydispersity coefficient, etc.) are generally consistent with the corresponding results of the similar processing of small-angle X-ray scattering data. However, the method of small-angle neutron scattering in comparison with small-angle X-ray scattering turns out to be less sensitive to the detailed analysis of structural features of the bilayer of the vesicle shell.