title: Highly versatile nanohydrogel platform based on riboflavin-polysaccharide derivatives useful in the development of intrinsically fluorescent and cytocompatible drug carriers.
abstract: In this work we describe a new nanohydrogel platform, based on polysaccharides modified with the hydrophobic and fluorescent molecule riboflavin tetrabutyrate, which leads to innovative structures useful for drug delivery applications. Hyaluronic acid and pullulan were chosen as representative of anionic and neutral polysaccharides, respectively, and the bromohexyl derivative of riboflavin tetrabutyrate was chemically linked to these polymer chains. Because of such derivatization, polymer chains were able to self-assemble in aqueous environment thus forming nanohydrogels, with mean diameters of about 312 and 210 nm, for hyaluronan and pullulan, respectively. These new nanohydrogels showed low polydispersity index, and negative ζ-potential. Moreover, the nanohydrogels, which can be easily loaded with model drugs, showed long-term stability in water and physiological conditions and excellent cytocompatibility. All these properties allow to consider these intrinsically fluorescent nanohydrogels suitable for the formulation of innovative drug dosage forms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Drug Chemistry and Technologies, "Sapienza" University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: chiara.dimeo@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Meo
authors.affiliation: Department of Drug Chemistry and Technologies, "Sapienza" University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Elita
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Montanari
authors.affiliation: Department of Drug Chemistry and Technologies, "Sapienza" University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Manzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Drug Chemistry and Technologies, "Sapienza" University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Villani
authors.affiliation: Department of Drug Chemistry and Technologies, "Sapienza" University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Tommasina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Coviello
authors.affiliation: Department of Drug Chemistry and Technologies, "Sapienza" University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Matricardi
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D065546:Drug Liberation; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D051379:Mice; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry*; D012256:Riboflavin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D004337:Drug Carriers; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D020100:Hydrogels; D011134:Polysaccharides; C009175:riboflavin tetrabutyrate; D012256:Riboflavin
keywords: Hyaluronan; Nanohydrogel; Pullulan; Riboflavin; Self-assembling