Publications

This study investigates the synthesis and optimization of nanobots (NBs) loaded with pDNA using the layer-by-layer (LBL) method and explores the impact of their collective motion on the transfection efficiency. NBs consist of biocompatible and biodegradable poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles and are powered by the urease enzyme, enabling autonomous movement and collective swarming behavior. In vitro experiments were conducted to validate the delivery efficiency of fluorescently labeled NBs, using two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) cell models: murine urothelial carcinoma cell line (MB49) and spheroids from human urothelial bladder cancer cells (RT4). Swarms of pDNA-loaded NBs showed enhancements of 2.2- to 2.6-fold in delivery efficiency and 6.8- to 8.1-fold in material delivered compared to inhibited particles (inhibited enzyme) and the absence of fuel in a 2D cell culture. Additionally, efficient intracellular delivery of pDNA was demonstrated in both cell models by quantifying and visualizing the expression of eGFP. Swarms of NBs exhibited a >5-fold enhancement in transfection efficiency compared to the absence of fuel in a 2D culture, even surpassing the Lipofectamine 3000 commercial transfection agent (cationic lipid-mediated transfection). Swarms also demonstrated up to a 3.2-fold enhancement in the amount of material delivered in 3D spheroids compared to the absence of fuel. The successful transfection of 2D and 3D cell cultures using swarms of LBL PLGA NBs holds great potential for nucleic acid delivery in the context of bladder treatments.

JTD Keywords: Animals, Barrier, Cell line, tumor, Dna, Drug delivery, Drug-delivery, Enzyme catalysis, Gene delivery, Gene transfer techniques, Humans, Lactic acid, Mice, Nanobots, Nanoparticles, Pdna, Plasmids, Polyglycolic acid, Polylactic acid-polyglycolic acid copolymer, Swarming, Transfectio, Transfection, Urease, Urinary bladder neoplasms

Prior studies demonstrated that encapsulation in poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) enhanced the delivery of enzymes used for replacement therapy (ERT) of lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs). This study examined how the copolymer lactide:glycolide ratio impacts encapsulation, physicochemical characteristics, stability, and release under lysosomal conditions. Hyaluronidase, deficient in mucopolysaccharidosis IX, was encapsulated in NPs synthesized using 50:50, 60:40, or 75:25 lactide:glycolide copolymers. All NPs had diameters compatible with cellular transport (≤168 nm) and polydispersity indexes (≤0.16) and ζ-potentials (≤-35 mV) compatible with colloidal stability. Yet, their encapsulation efficiency varied, with 75:25 NPs and 60:40 NPs having the lowest and highest EE, respectively (15% vs. 28%). Under lysosomal conditions, the 50:50 copolymer degraded fastest (41% in 1 week), as expected, and the presence of a targeting antibody coat did not alter this result. Additionally, 60:40 NPs destabilized fastest (<1 week) because of their smaller diameter, and 75:25 NPs did not destabilize in 4 weeks. All formulations presented burst release under lysosomal conditions (56-78% of the original load within 30 min), with 50:50 and 60:40 NPs releasing an additional small fraction after week 1. This provided 4 weeks of sustained catalytic activity, sufficient to fully degrade a substrate. Altogether, the 60:40 NP formulation is preferred given its higher EE, and 50:50 NPs represent a valid alternative, while the highest stability of 75:25 NPs may impair lysosomes. These results can guide future studies aiming to translate PLGA NP-based ERT for this and other LSDs.

JTD Keywords: biodegradation, copolymer ratio, degradation, drug-delivery, emulsification, enzyme release, enzyme replacement therapy, hyaluronidase, mechanisms, microspheres, nanoparticle stability, poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles, size, sphingomyelinase, transport, Central-nervous-system, Copolymer ratio, Enzyme release, Enzyme replacement therapy, Hyaluronidase, Lysosomal storage disorder, Nanoparticle stability, Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles

A bottom-up approach to fabricating monodisperse, two-component polymersomes that possess phase-separated ("patchy") chemical topology is presented. This approach is compared with already-existing top-down preparation methods for patchy polymer vesicles, such as film rehydration. These findings demonstrate a bottom-up, solvent-switch self-assembly approach that produces a high yield of nanoparticles of the target size, morphology, and surface topology for drug delivery applications, in this case patchy polymersomes of a diameter of ≈50 nm. In addition, an image processing algorithm to automatically calculate polymersome size distributions from transmission electron microscope images based on a series of pre-processing steps, image segmentation, and round object identification is presented.© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

JTD Keywords: assemblies, copolymers, evolution, membranes, micelles, ph, phase separation, polymersomes, rafts, self-assembly, size, vesicles, Cell biology, Drug delivery, Phase separation, Polymersomes, Self-assembly, Vesicles

Bioresorbable stents (BRS) are designed to provide initial sufficient mechanical support to prevent vessel recoil while being degraded until their complete resorption. Therefore, degradation rate of BRS plays a crucial role in successful stent performance. This work presents a complete study on the degradation of poly-llactic acid (PLLA) and poly(lactic-co-epsilon-caprolactone) (PLCL) stents fabricated by solvent-cast direct-writing (SC-DW) through two different accelerated assays: alkaline medium at 37 degrees C for 10 days and PBS at 50 degrees C for 4 months. On retrieval, degraded stents were characterized in terms of mass loss, molecular weight (Mw), thermal and mechanical properties. The results showed that under alkaline conditions, stents underwent surface erosion, whereas stents immersed in PBS at 50 degrees C experienced bulk degradation. M-n decrease was accurately described by the autocatalyzed kinetic model, with PLCL showing a degradation rate 1.5 times higher than PLLA. Additionally, stents were subjected to gamma-irradiation and ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization. Whereas EtOsterilized stents remained structurally unaltered, gamma-irradiated stents presented severe deterioration as a result of extensive chain scission.

JTD Keywords: Acid, Behavior, Bioresorbable stents, Copolymer, Hydrolytic degradation, In-vitro degradation, Mechanical-properties, Molecular-weight, Poly(l-lactide), Poly-l-lactic acid, Poly-l-lactide, Scaffolds, Solvent-cast direct-writing, Sterilization

Different copolymers incorporating terpene oxide units (e.g., limonene oxide) have been evaluated considering thermal properties, degradability, and biocompatibility. Thus, polycarbonates and polyesters derived from aromatic, monocyclic and bicyclic anhydrides have been considered. Furthermore, ring substitution with myrcene terpene has been evaluated. All polymers were amorphous when evaluated directly from synthesis. However, spherulites could be observed after the slow evaporation of diluted chloroform solutions of polylimonene carbonate, with all isopropene units possessing an R configuration. This feature was surprising considering the reported information that suggested only the racemic polymer was able to crystallize. All polymers were thermally stable and showed a dependence of the maximum degradation rate temperature (from 242 °C to 342 °C) with the type of terpene oxide. The graduation of glass transition temperatures (from 44 °C to 172 °C) was also observed, being higher than those corresponding to the unsubstituted polymers. The chain stiffness of the studied polymers hindered both hydrolytic and enzymatic degradation while a higher rate was detected when an oxidative medium was assayed (e.g., weight losses around 12% after 21 days of exposure). All samples were biocompatible according to the adhesion and proliferation tests performed with fibroblast cells. Hydrophobic and mechanically consistent films (i.e., contact angles between 90° and 110°) were obtained after the evaporation of chloroform from the solutions, having different ratios of the studied biobased polyterpenes and poly(butylene succinate) (PBS). The blend films were comparable in tensile modulus and tensile strength with the pure PBS (e.g., values of 330 MPa and 7 MPa were determined for samples incorporating 30 wt.% of poly(PA-LO), the copolyester derived from limonene oxide and phthalic anhydride. Blends were degradable, biocompatible and appropriate to produce oriented-pore and random-pore scaffolds via a thermally-induced phase separation (TIPS) method and using 1,4-dioxane as solvent. The best results were attained with the blend composed of 70 wt.% PBS and 30 wt.% poly(PA-LO). In summary, the studied biobased terpene derivatives showed promising properties to be used in a blended form for biomedical applications such as scaffolds for tissue engineering.

JTD Keywords: alternating copolymerization, biobased materials, biodegradability, composites, crystallization, cyclohexene oxide, induced phase-separation, limonene oxide, mechanical-properties, polyesters, scaffolds, spherulites, terpene derivatives, thermal properties, thermally-induced phase separation, Acetone, Bio-based, Bio-based materials, Biobased materials, Biocompatibility, Biodegradability, Butenes, Cell culture, Chlorine compounds, Degradation, Evaporation, Glass transition, Limonene oxide, Monoterpenes, Phase separation, Poly (butylenes succinate), Polybutylene succinate, Property, Ring-opening copolymerization, Scaffolds, Spheru-lites, Tensile strength, Terpene derivatives, Thermal properties, Thermally induced phase separation, Thermally-induced phase separation, Thermally?induced phase separation, Thermodynamic properties, Thermogravimetric analysis

This work reports a simple and scalable strategy to prepare a series of thermoresponsive polyurethanes synthesized via copolymerization of dicyclohexyl diisocyanate with glycerol ethoxylate in a single one-pot system. These polyurethanes exhibit lower critical solution temperatures (LCST) at 57 degrees C. The LCST of synthesized polyurethane was determined from Dynamic Scanning Calorimetry and UV-vis measurements. Both the LCST and T-g of synthesized polyurethane was tuned by varying the ratio between hard segment (dicyclohexyl diisocyanate) and soft segment (glycerol ethoxylate). Thus, T-g values could be tuned from -54.6 degrees C to -19.9 degrees C for samples with different flexibility. The swelling and deswelling studies were done at room temperature and above the LCST respectively. The results showed that the swelling ratio increases with the increase of soft segment (glycerol ethoxylate) in synthesized polyurethanes. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of the membrane were studied by universal tensile testing measurements. Specifically, stress at break values varied from 0.35 +/- 0.07 MPa to 0.91 +/- 0.15 MPa for the tested membranes, whereas elongation at break data ranged from 101.9 +/- 20.9 % to 192.4 +/- 24.4 %, and Young's modulus varied from 0.35 +/- 0.03 MPa to 1.85 +/- 0.19 MPa. Tensile strength of the films increased with the increase of the hard segment and elongation at break decreased.

JTD Keywords: copolymerization, critical solution temperatures, polyurethanes, tensile strength, Biodegradable polyurethanes, Copolymerization, Critical solution temperatures, Glycol), Polymers, Polyurethanes, Solvent-free, Tensile strength, Thermoresponsive materials

© 2021 Elsevier B.V. The current decline in antimalarial drug efficacy due to the evolution of resistant Plasmodium strains calls for new strategies capable of improving the bioavailability of antimalarials, especially of those whose lipophilic character imparts them a low solubility in biological fluids. Here we have designed, synthesized and characterized amphiphilic zwitterionic block copolymers forming nanoparticles capable of penetrating the intestinal epithelium that can be used for oral administration. Poly(butyl methacrylate-co-morpholinoethyl sulfobetaine methacrylate) (PBMA-MESBMA)-based nanoparticles exhibited a specific targeting to Plasmodium falciparum-infected vs. parasite-free red blood cells (74.8%/0.8% respectively), which was maintained upon encapsulation of the lipophilic antimalarial drug curcumin (82.6%/0.3%). The in vitro efficacy of curcumin upon encapsulation was maintained relative to the free compound, with an IC50 around 5 μM. In vivo assays indicated a significantly increased curcumin concentration in the blood of mice one hour after being orally fed PBMA-MESBMA-curcumin in comparison to the administration of free drug (18.7 vs. 2.1 ng/ml, respectively). At longer times, however, plasma curcumin concentration equaled between free and encapsulated drug, which was reflected in similar in vivo antimalarial activities in Plasmodium yoelii yoelii-infected mice. Microscopic analysis in blood samples of fluorescently labeled PBMA-MESBMA revealed the presence of the polymer inside P. yoelii yoelii-parasitized erythrocytes one hour after oral administration to infected animals.

JTD Keywords: curcumin, drug delivery, malaria, pbma-mesbma, plasmodium, zwitterionic block copolymers, Curcumin, Drug delivery, Malaria, Pbma-mesbma, Plasmodium, Zwitterionic block copolymers

Vitronectin (VN) adsorption on a family of model substrates consisting of copolymers of ethyl acrylate and hydroxyl ethylacrylate in different ratios (to obtain a controlled surface density of -OH groups) was investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). It is shown that the fraction of the substrate covered by the protein depends strongly on the amount of hydroxyl groups in the sample and it monotonically decreases as the -OH density increases. Isolated globular-like VN molecules are observed on the surfaces with the higher OH density. As the fraction of hydroxyl groups decreases, aggregates of 3-5 VN molecules are observed on the sample. Overall cell morphology, focal adhesion formation and actin cytoskeleton development are investigated to assess the biological activity of the adsorbed VN on the different surfaces. Dermal fibroblast cells show excellent material interaction on the more hydrophobic samples (OH contents lower than 0.5), which reveals enhanced VN activity on this family of substrates as compared with other extracellular matrix proteins (e.g., fibronectin and fibrinogen).

JTD Keywords: Copolymers, Vitronectin, AFM, Self-assembled monolayers, Cell-adhesion, Thermal transitions, Protein adsorption, Surfaces, Fibronectin, Biomaterials, Attachment, Fibrinogen

Iniferter-mediated surface-initiated photopolymerization was used to graft poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) brush layers obtained from surface-attached iniferters in self-assembled monolayers to a gold surface. The tethered chains were subsequently functionalized with the cell-adhesive arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) motif. The modified brushes were extended by reinitiating the polymerization to obtain an additional layer of PMAA, thereby burying the peptide-functionalized segments inside the brush structure. Contact angle measurements and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were employed to characterize the wettability and the chemical properties of these platforms. Time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS) measurements were performed to monitor the chemical composition of the polymer layer as a function of the distance to the gold surface and obtain information concerning the depth of the RGD motifs inside the brush structure. The brush thickness was evaluated as a function of the polymerization (i.e.. UV-irradiation) time with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and ellipsometry. Cell adhesion tests employing human osteoblasts were performed on substrates with the RGD peptides exposed at the surface as well as covered by a PMAA top brush layer. Immunofluorescence studies demonstrated a variation of the cell morphology as a function of the position of the peptide units along the grafted chains.

JTD Keywords: Ion mass-spectrometry, Transfer radical polymerization, Asymmetric diblock copolymers, Arg-gly-asp, Swelling behaviour, Endothelial-cells, Thin-films, fibronectin, Surfaces, SIMS