Title: Functionalized hyaluronic acids for single-pot self- assembled nanogels as novel delivery platform to improve pharmaceutical bioavailability

Abstract

Objective and Scope: In recent years, many studies indicated that curcumin possesses pharmacological effects in cellular studies such as anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti- cancer including wound healing effect. However, poor solubility and stability issue of curcumin brought about the huge challenge for bioavailability of the drug to its targets. According to the colloidal stability of nanogel, the delivery system was chosen to overcome the difficulties. Functionalized hyaluronic acids (f-HAs) are modified polymers, which were developed as materials forming nanogels for the best outcome in delivering the powerful cargos. Methods: The polymers were characterized by NMR for the successful polymer grafting and the interaction between drug and materials was confirmed by FTIR. Besides, f-HA nanogels were assessed for their biocompatibility using metabolic-rate assay with L929 cells. The nanogel-assist internalization of drug into cells was also performed. Results: Functionalized hyaluronic acids nanogel presented the distinct drug encapsulation efficiency at 87.84% and drug release under 37°C indicated drug delivery property of this system. The results showed that 0.5%w/v of polymer in water is biocompatible to fibroblast cell line (L929). Moreover, the nanogels loaded with curcumin further promoted cell growth compared with non-treated cells showing the potential wound healing activity. The nanogel could also promote drug uptakes. Conclusion: The design of self-assembled nanogels based on single-pot process was achieved with the f-HAs. The potential benefit of the system towards industrialization of polymer nanotechnology has been improved. With further animal studies and clinical trials, the materials could be the future of drug delivery system to be used in biomedicines.

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