Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Qiuquan Cai, Jiahong Jiang, Hongjie Zhang, Pengfei Ge, Liu Yang, Weipu Zhu
Summary: A PTX-loaded nanodrug was prepared through self-assembly of PTX and an amphiphilic PEG derivative, showing good biocompatibility and selective drug release under intratumor reducing conditions. This nanodrug has potential for delivering hydrophobic drugs to treat malignant tumors with prolonged circulation time and excellent antitumor efficacy in vivo.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Noemi Faggio, Federica Zuppardi, Catello Staiano, Giovanni Dal Poggetto, Giovanna Gomez d'Ayala, Pierfrancesco Cerruti
Summary: In this study, thermo- and pH-responsive copolymers were prepared and used as adsorbents to remove organic dyes from water. The copolymers exhibited self-assembly behavior and achieved high efficiency in dye removal through hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions.
JOURNAL OF WATER PROCESS ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yao Xue, Hui-Min Gao, Linxiuzi Yu, Ning-Ning Zhang, Jing Kang, Chun-Yu Wang, Zhong-Yuan Lu, Andrew K. Whittaker, Kun Liu
Summary: This study reports that unfunctionalized PEG is physically adsorbed on various NPs through supramolecular interactions, and investigates the effect of PEG molecular weight and NP ligands on the conformation of PEG chains. The results demonstrate that the physisorption of PEG on NPs can facilitate chemisorption in the initial stages but delay it in the later stages.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Kyle Brewer, Fengxiang Bai, Anton Blencowe
Summary: The use of pH-responsive polymeric micelles is a promising approach for targeted drug delivery in cancer cells. However, there is a lack of data on hydrophobic drug compatibility and the relationship between copolymer microstructure and drug compatibility. This study presents a facile synthesis method for diblock copolymers and investigates the encapsulation and release of hydrophobic drugs. The results demonstrate the drug selectivity of the copolymer core and suggest the further investigation of clinically relevant micelle systems.
Article
Polymer Science
Marco Annegarn, Maxim Dirksen, Thomas Hellweg
Summary: The synthesis of cationic microgels using PNIPAM with APMH as the cationic comonomer resulted in a significant decrease in microgel size and yield, with less than one third of the APMH monomer being incorporated. Increasing the reaction pH up to 9.5 helped alleviate the negative effects of APMH copolymerization, but synthesis was not feasible above this pH due to aggregation issues.
Article
Polymer Science
Jiasheng Pan, Xin Wen, Mu Wang, Jun Li, Xiangyu Li, Anchao Feng, Liqun Zhang, San H. Thang
Summary: This study successfully constructed a novel stimuli-responsive microgel by introducing complementary interactions between natural nucleobases, and demonstrated shrinkage and assembly behavior under different water content and thermo pH-stimulated conditions.
MACROMOLECULAR RAPID COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Ana Mora-Boza, Saron G. Ghebrezadik, Johannes E. Leisen, Andres J. Garcia
Summary: This study presents a fabrication strategy for 4-arm amide-linked PEG-NB (PEG-4aNB) microgels using flow-focusing microfluidics for cell encapsulation. The PEG-4aNB microgels exhibit in vitro degradability and excellent viability and metabolic activity of encapsulated cells.
ADVANCED HEALTHCARE MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marcel Rey, Jannis Kolker, James A. Richards, Isha Malhotra, Thomas S. Glen, N. Y. Denise Li, Fraser H. J. Laidlaw, Damian Renggli, Jan Vermant, Andrew B. Schofield, Syuji Fujii, Hartmut Loewen, Paul S. Clegg
Summary: This study investigates the effect of individual microgel morphology on the destabilization of responsive emulsions. The polymeric properties of microgels enable stimuli-responsive behavior while the colloidal properties provide long-term stability to the emulsions.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Polymer Science
Aleksey D. Drozdov, Jesper deClaville Christiansen
Summary: The increase in elastic modulus is associated with aggregation of hydrophobic segments into clusters, forming extra physical bonds between chains. Microgels exhibit higher elastic moduli but lower degrees of swelling in stress-free state compared with macroscopic gels.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jaeyeong Kwon, Hyomin Lee
Summary: In this study, Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) microgels embedded with magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) were used as fining agents for the effective adsorption and removal of tannins. The high surface area of PEG microgels allowed efficient adsorption of tannins through hydrogen-bonding, and the incorporated MNP facilitated easy recovery of the adsorbed tannic acid (TA) via magnetic decantation. The study also demonstrated that the adsorbed TA could be converted into ellagic acid (EA) through simple base treatment of the TA-adsorbed microgels.
KOREAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ekkachai Martwong, Yvette Tran
Summary: The study reports on the synthesis and temperature-responsive properties of poly(PEGMA) hydrogel thin films. Surface-attached poly(PEGMA) hydrogel films were synthesized using a simple, versatile, and well-controlled thiol-ene click reaction method, with the transition temperature finely tunable by adjusting the number of PEG units. The LCST properties of the hydrogel films are not sensitive to salt, holding promise for applications in biology such as injectable hydrogels, drug delivery systems, microfluidic valves, and flow switches for biotechnologies.
Article
Polymer Science
Madhappan Santhamoorthy, Thi Tuong Vy Phan, Vanaraj Ramkumar, Chaitany Jayprakash Raorane, Kokila Thirupathi, Seong-Cheol Kim
Summary: In this study, a dual pH- and thermo-sensitive copolymer hydrogel system was prepared and characterized. The hydrogel showed temperature-responsive drug release behavior and high drug loading efficiency. It demonstrated good biocompatibility on liver cancer cells, making it a potential drug delivery carrier for solid tumor-targeted therapy.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Micaela A. Macchione, Dariana Aristizabal Bedoya, Eva Rivero-Buceta, Pablo Botella, Miriam C. Strumia
Summary: Hybrid nanogels based on mesoporous silica nanoparticles were developed using ultrasound-assisted free radical precipitation/polymerization, characterized by various analytical techniques, and studied for their biological activity in cell lines and drug loading capacity. The results indicate excellent biocompatibility and drug release properties of these hybrid nanogels.
Article
Polymer Science
Ting Fu, Jing Shen, Yuting Meng, Jun Wang, Siping Wang, Yuhui Zhang, Tongwen Wang, Xufeng Zhang
Summary: During the medication-assisted treatment of drug abuse, a thermo-sensitive nanogel was synthesized as a drug carrier to automatically deliver detoxification medicines. The nanogel displayed good biocompatibility and adjustable release characteristics, showing potential for controlled drug delivery in drug abuse treatment.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Connor E. Miksch, Nathaniel P. Skillin, Bruce E. Kirkpatrick, Grace K. Hach, Varsha V. Rao, Timothy J. White, Kristi S. Anseth
Summary: Granular synthetic hydrogels are printable and stimuli-responsive scaffolds that can be used for tissue engineering. By using submerged electrospray and UV photopolymerization, synthetic microgels with different degradabilities can be prepared. These microgels can be assembled into porous scaffolds with adjustable void fractions using particle jamming and extrusion printing. This approach allows for high-throughput direct encapsulation of cells within printable microgels, enabling large-scale 3D culture in macroporous biomaterials and providing spatiotemporal control over the properties of printed scaffolds for tissue culture.
