Cooling-Triggered Release from Mesoporous Poly(-isopropylacrylamide) Microgels at Physiological Conditions.

Poly(-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) hydrogels have broad potential applications as drug delivery vehicles because of their thermoresponsive behavior. pNIPAM loading/release performances are directly affected by the gel network structure. Therefore, there is a need with the approaches for accurate design of 3D pNIPAM assemblies with the structure ordered at the nanoscale.

Inter-protein interactions govern protein loading into porous vaterite CaCO crystals.

The fast development of protein therapeutics has resulted in a high demand for advanced delivery carriers that can effectively host therapeutic proteins, preserve their bioactivity and release them on demand. Accordingly, vaterite CaCO crystals have attracted special attention as sacrificial templates for protein encapsulation in micro- and nanoparticles (capsules and beads, respectively) under mild biofriendly conditions. This study aimed to better understand the mechanism of protein loading into crystals as a primary step for protein encapsulation.

Protein-Containing Multilayer Capsules by Templating on Mesoporous CaCO3 Particles: POST- and PRE-Loading Approaches.

Encapsulation of model proteins (catalase, insulin, aprotinin) into multilayer dextran sulphate/protamin capsules by templating on CaCO3 microparticles is investigated employing: (i) PRE-loading into CaCO3 particles by adsorption or co-synthesis and (ii) POST-loading into performed capsules. Protein encapsulation is governed by both its size and electrostatic interactions with the carbonate microparticles and multilayer shell. PRE-loading enables improved encapsulation compared to POST-loading (catalase content in capsules 630 and 70 mg · g(-1)).