Fig. 9

Minor toxicity for normal organs from NV@CaP-RGD in vivo. a Changes in the body weight of mice bearing MCF-7/MDR subcutaneous xenograft tumors over the treatment period. Compared to the NV@CaP-RGD and NV@CaP groups, the body weight of the mice in the unbound drug group slightly decreased during the entire experimental period (P < 0.05). b Indices of hepatic and renal function measured at 48 h after the final injection of different drug formulations in nude mice. The levels of ALT and AST in the unbound drug group were much higher than those in the other three groups (P < 0.001), suggesting obvious toxicity of unbound NVT and VRP in the liver. Compared to the untreated group, there were no significant changes in the levels of UREA and CREA in all of the treated groups, suggesting negligible nephrotoxicity. The *** stands for significant difference P < 0.001. c Histopathology of major organs from mice after intravenous injections of PBS and various drug formulations. Hepatic necrosis and a pulmonary inflammatory response were observed in the unbound NVT and VRP group without obvious pathological changes in other organs. No obvious pathological change in all organs was observed in the NV@CaP-RGD and NV@CaP groups, suggesting that the NPs can effectively reduce the toxicity of drugs to normal organs