Tailored design of NHS-SS-NHS cross-linked chitosan nano-hydrogels for enhanced anti-tumor efficacy by GSH-responsive drug release.

The traditional chemotherapeutic agents' disadvantages such as high toxicity, untargeting and poor water solubility lead to disappointing chemotherapy effects, which restricts its clinical application. In this work, novel size-appropriate and glutathione (GSH)-responsive nano-hydrogels were successfully prepared via the active ester method between chitosan (containing -NH) and cross-linker (containing NHS). Especially, the cross-linker was elaborately designed to possess a disulfide linkage (SS) as well as two terminal NHS groups, namely NHS-SS-NHS.

Controlled growth of titanium dioxide nanotubes for doxorubicin loading and studies of antitumor activity.

Titanium dioxide (TiO) materials are suitable for use as drug carriers due to their natural biocompatibility and nontoxicity. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to investigate the controlled growth of TiO nanotubes (TiO NTs) of different sizes via an anodization method, in order to delineate whether the size of NTs governs their drug loading and release profile as well as their antitumor efficiency. TiO NTs were tailored to sizes ranging from 25 nm to 200 nm according to the anodization voltage employed.