Nanocarriers have been regarded as good candidates for drug delivery vehicles since the discovery of the enhanced permeability and retention effect. Promising examples are magnetoliposomes which are the combination of liposomes with encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles. Recently, it has been demonstrated the feasibility of a smart controlled delivery from magnetoliposomes using pulsed electromagnetic fields without a macroscopic temperature increase.
However, when using magnetoliposome problems in their leakage and stability over time may occur. The solution proposed within this project is the combination of magnetoliposomes and hydrogels polymeric matrix in order to form a drug depot at the targeted site and to control the release rate of drugs in a time dependent manner by means of electromagnetic fields.
The proposed project represents a highly innovative research contribution towards new methods of delivery of biochemical molecules, pharmaceutical drugs, genes or hormones.
In fact the feasibility of a smart controlled delivery using MLs encapsulating MNPs have been proven in the past and in particular the use of (PEMFs) have been proposed to control the release from MLs without a macroscopic temperature increase. However a problem remains in the moving from bench to bedside since
liposomes may have cytotoxic effects, leakage and stability problems.
For this reason the proposal of this new approach combing ML inside hydrogel systems can open the way to the release of the drug over a long period of time avoiding multiple administrations.
Hydrogels have been commonly used as drug delivery matrices, as, in addition to the protection they provide to the encapsulated drugs or liposomes, they are able to form a drug depot following their administration at the targeted defected site and control the release rate of both nanovesicles and drugs in a time dependent manner due to a combined transport resistance of the liposome membrane and the polymer matrix.
Both natural and synthetic biodegradable hydrogel systems can be used for the development of these depot-forming controlled release. Many of the hydrogel limitations, such as low tunability and low mechanical properties, could be overcome via the synergistic effect of the incorporated nanovesicles [Elkhoury, K.; Russell, C.S.; Sanchez-Gonzalez, L.; Mostafavi, A.; Williams, T.J.; Kahn, C.; Peppas, N.A.; Arab-Tehrany, E.; Tamayol, A. Soft-Nanoparticle Functionalization of Natural Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering Applications. Adv. Healthc. Mater. 2019, 1900506; Gaharwar, A.K.; Peppas, N.A.; Khademhosseini, A. Nanocomposite hydrogels for biomedical applications. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2014, 111, 441¿453]. Furthermore, the ability of drugs and nanovesicles of different sizes to be loaded and released from hydrogel systems allows for delivery via administration routes other than injection or oral. This will allow broader biomedical usages for the embedded nanovesicles, such as wound healing, bone and spinal cord regeneration, and direct cell reprogramming.