Fabrication of Nanogels for Delivery of Molecules

Abstract

Recently, nanogels have been extensively studied as a means to deliver bioactive molecules such as drugs, proteins, and vaccines due to their versatile and unique properties such as high water absorption, easy production, surface modification, high stability and biocompatibility. Various materials including natural polymers, synthetic polymers, peptides, and proteins have been selected for fabrication of nanogels to achieve a targeted, sustained, or protected delivery depending on biomedical applications and bioactive molecules. This review describes a variety of nanogel fabrication for applications in molecular delivery systems. The detail of materials and approaches for preparation of nanogels will be discussed, including free radical polymerization, controlled/living radical polymerization, self-assembly, and metal/nanogel composites.

Basic concepts and recent advances in nanogels as carriers for medical applications

“…In this context, nanohydrogels or the so-called nanogels/hydrogel nanoparticles as multifunctional polymer-based materials with great ability to adapt their properties, gain a great potential in nanomedicine, pharmaceutics and bio-nanotechnology. Due to their unique properties, nanogels are the subject of great interest in multidisciplinary domains, evidenced by the great number of publications on the preparation, properties and applications (Vinogradov 2007 ; Yallapu et al, 2007 ; Kabanov & Vinogradov, 2009 ; Vinogradov, 2010 ; Ferreira et al, 2013 ; Singh et al, 2013 ; Arnfast et al, 2014 ; Nopphadol et al, 2014 ; Mavuso et al, 2015 ; Merino et al, 2015 ; Molina et al, 2015 ; Sivaram et al, 2015 ; Tahara & Akiyoshi, 2015 ; Wang et al, 2015 ; Khoee & Asadi, 2016 ; Soni et al, 2016 ; Zhang et al, 2016 ).…”

Nanogel Functionalization: A Versatile Approach To Meet the Challenges of Drug and Gene Delivery

“…Among them, nanogels have gained increasing interest because of their potential in medicine, bioengineering, and diagnostic applications. 6,7 The unique properties of nanogels are closely correlated to the chance of fine-tuning their porosity, hydrophilic nature, stability, size, and charge by varying the chemical composition or grafting of additional functionalities. These nanosystems are also characterized by improved colloidal stability compared with surfactant micelles due to lower rates of dissociation/degradation, longer retention of loaded cargo (thanks to the large surface area to volume ratio), and their peculiar ability to retain a high water content that enhances dispersion stability.…”

“…Nowadays, nanotechnology advancements in the medical and biological fields have led to the development of innovative and alternative approaches for therapies and pharmacological and diagnostic investigations in the scientific, social, and ethical challenges. − The local manipulation of matter on the atomic and molecular scale concerns material structures and components that have to exhibit novel and significantly improved physical, chemical, and biological properties. , In this framework, the needs for targeted drug delivery systems, cell-compatible scaffolds, bone replacements, tracking and imaging techniques, and medical tools for the clinical treatment of tumors, cancer, or other neurodegenerative diseases have moved researchers to the fabrication of many types of nanomaterials, including liposomes, micelles, polymeric nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, metallic nanostructures, and quantum dots. Among them, nanogels have gained increasing interest because of their potential in medicine, bioengineering, and diagnostic applications. , The unique properties of nanogels are closely correlated to the chance of fine-tuning their porosity, hydrophilic nature, stability, size, and charge by varying the chemical composition or grafting of additional functionalities. These nanosystems are also characterized by improved colloidal stability compared with surfactant micelles due to lower rates of dissociation/degradation, longer retention of loaded cargo (thanks to the large surface area to volume ratio), and their peculiar ability to retain a high water content that enhances dispersion stability.…”

A green and facile method for the preparation of a pH-responsive alginate nanogel for subcellular delivery of doxorubicin

“…Hydrophobic association, 9 electrostatic interactions [10][11][12] and hydrogen bonding 11,13 have been employed to form nanogels of this kind. have been investigated to fabricate nanogels, 14 natural materials take a lot of advantages, which include alginate, pullulan, chitosan, dextran, hyaluronic acid, amino acids and polypeptide. Goncalves' group developed dual-cross-linked dendrimer/alginate nanogels (AG/G5), using CaCl 2 as a cross-linker and amine-terminated generation 5 dendrimer (G5) as a cocrosslinker, through a double emulsion method, which requires thorough removal of organic solvent during the workup.…”

“…Though many synthetic macromolecules, such as poly(Nisopropylacrylamide), poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone), poly(ethylene glycol), poly(acrylamide), etc. have been investigated to fabricate nanogels, 14 natural materials, which include alginate, pullulan, chitosan, dextran, hyaluronic acid, amino acids and polypeptides, have a lot of advantages. 1,15 Among these natural materials, alginate is of particular interest.…”