Plasmonic lipogels: driving co-assembly of composites with peptide-based gels for controlled drug release

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2022

Authors

Veloso, SRS (Author) Other; Gomes, V (Author) Other; Mendes, SLF (Author) Other; Hilliou, L (Author) Other; Pereira, RB (Author) Other; David M Pereira (Author) FFUP; Coutinho, PJG (Author) Other; Ferreira, PMT (Author) Other; Correa Duarte, MA (Author) Other; Castanheira, EMS (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Soft Matter

Vol. 18

Pages: 8384-8397

ISSN: 1744-683X

Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 0 Citations

Scopus

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00X-AS0

DOI: 10.1039/d2sm00926a

Abstract (EN): Supramolecular short peptide-based gels are promising materials for the controlled release of drugs (e.g. chemotherapeutic drugs) owing to the biocompatibility and similarity to cell matrix. However, the drug encapsulation and control over its release, mainly the hydrophilic drugs, can be a cumbersome task. This can be overcome through encapsulation/compartmentalization of drugs in liposomes, which can also enable spatiotemporal control and enhanced drug release through a trigger, such as photothermia. Having this in mind, we explored the assembly of silica-coated gold nanoparticles and liposomes (storage units) with dehydropeptide-based hydrogels as a proof-of-concept to afford peptide-based NIR light-responsive lipogels. Several liposomes compositions were assessed that displayed influence on the final assembly properties by combining with silica-coated gold nanorods (similar to 106 nm). Gold nanospheres (similar to 11 nm) were used to study the preparation method, which revealed the importance of initially combine liposomes with nanoparticles and then the gelator solution to achieve a closer proximity of the nanoparticles to the liposomes. The control over a hydrophilic model drug, 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein, was only achieved by its encapsulation in liposomes, in which the presence of silica-coated nanorods further enabled the use of photothermia to induce the liposomes phase transition and stimulate the drug release. Further, both composites, the liposomes and silica-coated gold nanorods, induced a lower elastic modulus, but also provided an enhanced gelation kinetics. Hereby, this work advances fabrication strategies for the development of short peptide-based hydrogels towards on-demand, sustained and controlled release of hydrophilic drugs through photothermia under NIR light irradiation.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 14