The drug release characteristics of G4-polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer-ibuprofen conjugates with ester, amide, and peptide linkers were investigated, in addition to a linear PEG-ibuprofen conjugate to understand the effect of architecture and linker on drug release. Ibuprofen was directly conjugated to NH2 -terminated dendrimer by an amide bond and OH-terminated dendrimer by an ester bond. A tetra-peptide linked dendrimer conjugate and a linear mPEG-ibuprofen conjugate were also studied for comparison to direct linked dendrimer conjugates. It is demonstrated that the 3-D nanoscale architecture of PAMAM dendrimer-drug conjugates, along with linking chemistry govern the drug release mechanisms as well as kinetics. Understanding these structural effects on their drug release characteristics is crucial for design of dendrimer conjugates with high efficacy such as poly(amidoamine) dendrimer-N-Acetylcysteine conjugates with disulfide linkages. N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) is an anti-inflammatory agent with significant potential for clinical use in the treatment of neuroinflammation, stroke and cerebral palsy. A poly(amidoamine) dendrimer-NAC conjugate that contains a disulfide linkage was synthesized and evaluated for its release kinetics in the presence of glutathione (GSH), Cysteine (Cys), and bovine serum albumin (BSA) at both physiological and lysosomal pH. FITC-labeled conjugates showed that they enter cells rapidly and localize in the cytoplasm of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated microglial cells. The efficacy of the dendrimer-NAC conjugate was measured in activated microglial cells using reactive oxygen species (ROS) assays. The conjugates showed an order of magnitude increase in anti-oxidant activity compared to free drug. When combined with intrinsic and ligand-based targeting with dendrimers, these types of GSH sensitive nanodevices can lead to improved drug release profiles and in vivo efficacy
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