Thermo-activatable PNIPAM-functionalized lanthanide-doped upconversion luminescence nanocomposites used for in vitro imaging

Progress in recent years in the field of stimuli-responsive polymers, whose properties change depending on the intensity of a signal, permitted an increase in smart drug delivery systems (SDDS). SDDS have attracted the attention of the scientific community because they can help meet two current challenges of the pharmaceutical industry: targeted drug delivery and personalized medicine. Controlled release of the active ingredient can be achieved through various stimuli, among which are temperature, pH, redox potential or even enzymes. SDDS, hitherto explored mainly in oncology, are now developed in the fields of dermatology and cosmetics. They are mostly hydrogels or nanosystems, and the most-used stimuli are pH and temperature. This review offers an overview of polymer-based SDDS developed to trigger the release of active ingredients intended to treat skin conditions or pathologies. The methods used to attest to stimuli-responsiveness in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo are discussed.

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Magnetic tri-bead microrobot assisted near-infrared triggered combined photothermal and chemotherapy of cancer cells

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-87010-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xiaoxia Song ◽

Zhi Chen ◽

Xue Zhang ◽

Junfeng Xiong ◽

Teng Jiang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Drug Delivery ◽

Cancer Cells ◽

Photothermal Therapy ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Stimuli Responsive ◽

Lung Cancer Cell ◽

Precise Movement ◽

Photothermal Property

AbstractMagnetic micro/nanorobots attracted much attention in biomedical fields because of their precise movement, manipulation, and targeting abilities. However, there is a lack of research on intelligent micro/nanorobots with stimuli-responsive drug delivery mechanisms for cancer therapy. To address this issue, we developed a type of strong covalently bound tri-bead drug delivery microrobots with NIR photothermal response azobenzene molecules attached to their carboxylic surface groups. The tri-bead microrobots are magnetic and showed good cytocompatibility even when their concentration is up to 200 µg/mL. In vitro photothermal experiments demonstrated fast NIR-responsive photothermal property; the microrobots were heated to 50 °C in 4 min, which triggered a significant increase in drug release. Motion control of the microrobots inside a microchannel demonstrated the feasibility of targeted therapy on tumor cells. Finally, experiments with lung cancer cells demonstrated the effectiveness of targeted chemo-photothermal therapy and were validated by cell viability assays. These results indicated that tri-bead microrobots have excellent potential for targeted chemo-photothermal therapy for lung cancer cell treatment.

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Schiff base-containing dextran nanogel as pH-sensitive drug delivery system of doxorubicin: Synthesis and characterization

Journal of Biomaterials Applications ◽

10.1177/0885328218783969 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 170-181 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Hongying Su ◽

Wen Zhang ◽

Yayun Wu ◽

Xiaodong Han ◽

Gang Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Schiff Base ◽

Drug Release ◽

Drug Delivery System ◽

Delivery System ◽

Ph Sensitive ◽

Cell Uptake ◽

Stimuli Responsive ◽

Drug Release Profile

Stimuli-responsive hydrogels have been widely researched as carrier systems, due to their excellent biocompatibility and responsiveness to external physiologic environment factors. In this study, dextran-based nanogel with covalently conjugated doxorubicin (DOX) was developed via Schiff base formation using the inverse microemulsion technique. Since the Schiff base linkages are acid-sensitive, drug release profile of the DOX-loaded nanogel would be pH-dependent. In vitro drug release studies confirmed that DOX was released much faster under acidic condition (pH 2.0, 5.0) than that at pH 7.4. Approximately 66, 28, and 9% of drug was released in 72 h at pH 2.0, 5.0, and 7.4, respectively. Cell uptake by the human breast cancer cell (MCF-7) demonstrated that the DOX-loaded dextran nanogel could be internalized through endocytosis and distributed in endocytic compartments inside tumor cells. These results indicated that the Schiff base-containing nanogel can serve as a pH-sensitive drug delivery system. And the presence of multiple aldehyde groups on the nanogel are available for further conjugations of targeting ligands or imaging probes.

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A Tunable pH-Responsive Nanomaterials for Cancer Delivery

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.750-752.1476 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 750-752 ◽

pp. 1476-1479 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bin Liu ◽

Guan Hui Gao ◽

Peng Liu ◽

Hu Qiang Yi ◽

Wei Wei ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Ethylene Glycol ◽

Potential Application ◽

Ph Responsive ◽

Poly Ethylene Glycol ◽

Positive Potential ◽

Ph Values ◽

Drugs In Blood ◽

Poly Ethylene

In this paper, we successfully designed a pH-responsive micelles based on hybrid polypeptide copolymers of poly (L-lysine-4-Azepan-1-yl-butyric)-b-poly (ethylene glycol)-b-poly (L-lysine-Diisopropylamide)-b-poly (L-leucine) (PLL(A)-PEG-PLL(B)-PLLeu) for efficient drug delivery. This pH-responsive nanoparticles were able to response to different pH values (pH=6.8 and 5.5). In vitro, these nanoparticles exhibited a stable and evenly distributed approximately 51 nm, a slightly positive potential about 10.3 mv at pH 7.4, which were crucial for the circulation of drugs in blood. While size and potential were about 130 nm and 34.7 mv at pH 6.8, which were good for drugs in membrane. Furthermore, the loading capability of DOX was up to 11.3%, and the pH-responsive release efficiency reached to 68.3% at pH 5.5. The results indicated that these micelles had huge potential application in cancer delivery.

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Thermo/pH dual-stimuli-responsive drug delivery for chemo-/photothermal therapy monitored by cell imaging

Talanta ◽

10.1016/j.talanta.2018.01.018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 181 ◽

pp. 278-285 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Yang Shu ◽

Rusheng Song ◽

Anqi Zheng ◽

Jingli Huang ◽

Mingli Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Photothermal Therapy ◽

Cell Imaging ◽

Stimuli Responsive

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One-Step Synthesis of Small-Sized and Water-Soluble NaREF4Upconversion Nanoparticles for In Vitro Cell Imaging and Drug Delivery

Chemistry - A European Journal ◽

10.1002/chem.201203634 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 19 (8) ◽

pp. 2685-2694 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

Dongmei Yang ◽

Yunlu Dai ◽

Pingan Ma ◽

Xiaojiao Kang ◽

Ziyong Cheng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Cell Imaging ◽

Water Soluble ◽

One Step

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Biodegradable AIEgen-functionalised mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles for drug delivery and cell imaging

Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers ◽

10.1039/c7qi00575j ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 474-480 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Duo Wang ◽

Chengkai Zhang ◽

Li Ren ◽

Dongdong Li ◽

Jihong Yu

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Bioactive Glass ◽

Potential Application ◽

Cell Imaging ◽

Acid Environment ◽

Mesoporous Bioactive Glass

AIEgen-functionalised mesoporous bioactive glass nanospheres with excellent degradability in an acid environment show potential application in drug delivery and cell imaging.

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The Effective Combination between 3D Cancer Models and Stimuli-Responsive Nanoscale Drug Delivery Systems

Cells ◽

10.3390/cells10123295 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 3295

Author(s):

Federica Foglietta ◽

Loredana Serpe ◽

Roberto Canaparo

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Cancer Cell ◽

Cell Cultures ◽

Drug Delivery Systems ◽

In Vitro Models ◽

Delivery Systems ◽

Stimuli Responsive ◽

Cancer Models

Stimuli-responsive drug-delivery systems (DDSs) have emerged as a potential tool for applications in healthcare, mainly in the treatment of cancer where versatile nanocarriers are co-triggered by endogenous and exogenous stimuli. Two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures are the most important in vitro model used to evaluate the anticancer activity of these stimuli-responsive DDSs due to their easy manipulation and versatility. However, some limitations suggest that these in vitro models poorly predict the outcome of in vivo studies. One of the main drawbacks of 2D cell cultures is their inadequate representation of the 3D environment’s physiological complexity, which sees cells interact with each other and the extracellular matrix (ECM) according to their specific cellular organization. In this regard, 3D cancer models are a promising approach that can overcome the main shortcomings of 2D cancer cell cultures, as these in vitro models possess many peculiarities by which they mimic in vivo tumors, including physiologically relevant cell–cell and cell–ECM interactions. This is, in our opinion, even more relevant when a stimuli-responsive DDS is being investigated. In this review, we therefore report and discuss endogenous and exogenous stimuli-responsive DDSs whose effectiveness has been tested using 3D cancer cell cultures.

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Stimuli-responsive Polymeric nanosystems for therapeutic applications

Current Pharmaceutical Design ◽

10.2174/1381612827666211208150210 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

Author(s):

Mayank Handa ◽

Ajit Singh ◽

S.J.S. Flora ◽

Rahul Shukla

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Metallic Nanoparticles ◽

Drug Delivery Systems ◽

Polymeric Nanoparticles ◽

Drug Loading ◽

Delivery Systems ◽

Specific Drug ◽

Stimuli Responsive

Background: Recent past decades have reported emerging of polymeric nanoparticles as a promising technique for controlled and targeted drug delivery. As nanocarriers, they have high drug loading and delivery to the specific site or targeted cells with an advantage of no drug leakage within en route and unloading of a drug in a sustained fashion at the site. These stimuli-responsive systems are functionalized in dendrimers, metallic nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, liposomal nanoparticles, quantum dots. Purpose of Review: The authors reviewed the potential of smart stimuli-responsive carriers for therapeutic application and their behavior in external or internal stimuli like pH, temperature, redox, light, and magnet. These stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems behave differently in In vitro and In vivo drug release patterns. Stimuli-responsive nanosystems include both hydrophilic and hydrophobic systems. This review highlights the recent development of the physical properties and their application in specific drug delivery. Conclusion: The stimuli (smart, intelligent, programmed) drug delivery systems provide site-specific drug delivery with potential therapy for cancer, neurodegenerative, lifestyle disorders. As development and innovation, the stimuli-responsive based nanocarriers are moving at a fast pace and huge demand for biocompatible and biodegradable responsive polymers for effective and safe delivery.

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A targeted drug delivery system based on folic acid-functionalized upconversion luminescent nanoparticles

Journal of Biomaterials Applications ◽

10.1177/0885328217701289 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 31 (9) ◽

pp. 1247-1256 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Xuhua Liang ◽

Jun Fan ◽

Yanyan Zhao ◽

Min Cheng ◽

Xuejun Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Folic Acid ◽

Targeted Delivery ◽

Cell Imaging ◽

Ostwald Ripening ◽

Upconversion Luminescence ◽

Mesoporous Structure ◽

Anticancer Drug Delivery ◽

Free Doxorubicin ◽

Luminescent Nanoparticles

In this paper, multifunctional upconversion luminescent NaYF4:Yb,Er nanoparticles with excellent hollow mesoporous structure were first fabricated. The effects of various reaction conditions on the morphology and size of the as-prepared samples were investigated in detail and Ostwald ripening effect was adapted to explain the formation mechanism of the HMUCNPs. Then, folic acid, a well-known ligand for the selective targeting of drugs into tumor cells, was conjugated to the surface of the hollow mesoporous structured upconversion luminescent nanoparticles (HMUCNPs) via amide reaction for targeted delivery of anticancer drugs so as to enhance the therapeutic efficacy. The properties were extensively studied, which indicated the obtained samples showed a typical hollow mesoporous structure and excellent upconversion luminescence that were useful for cell imaging and drug delivery. Drug storage/release properties were demonstrated to be pH responsive, in which the drug release might be beneficial at the reduced pH in certain cancerous tissues for targeted release and controlled therapy at the pathological sites. Meanwhile, DOX-NaYF4:Yb,Er-FA HMUCNPs exhibited greater cytotoxicity than free doxorubicin hydrochloride because folic acid-conjugated HMUCNPs can be specifically taken up by FR-positive KB cells via a receptor-mediated endocytosis. Therefore, the folic acid-functionalized nanoparticles combining upconversion luminescent property and hollow mesoporous structure have potential for simultaneous targeted anticancer drug delivery and cell imaging.

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