title: Minimalism in radiation synthesis of biomedical functional nanogels.
abstract: A scalable, single-step, synthetic approach for the manufacture of biocompatible, functionalized micro- and nanogels is presented. In particular, poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone)-grafted-(aminopropyl)methacrylamide microgels and nanogels were generated through e-beam irradiation of PVP aqueous solutions in the presence of a primary amino-group-carrying monomer. Particles with different hydrodynamic diameters and surface charge densities were obtained at the variance of the irradiation conditions. Chemical structure was investigated by different spectroscopic techniques. Fluorescent variants were generated through fluorescein isothiocyanate attachment to the primary amino groups grafted to PVP, to both quantify the available functional groups for bioconjugation and follow nanogels localization in cell cultures. Finally, a model protein, bovine serum albumin, was conjugated to the nanogels to demonstrate the attachment of biologically relevant molecules for targeting purposes in drug delivery. The described approach provides a novel strategy to fabricate biohybrid nanogels with a very promising potential in nanomedicine.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Gestionale, Informatica, Meccanica, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy. Clelia.dispenza@unipa.it
authors.forename: Clelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dispenza
authors.forename: Maria Antonietta
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sabatino
authors.forename: Natascia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Grimaldi
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bulone
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bondì
authors.forename: Maria Pia
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Casaletto
authors.forename: Salvatrice
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rigogliuso
authors.forename: Giorgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Adamo
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ghersi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004583:Electrons; D005782:Gels / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D005782:Gels