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Updated: Aug 5, 2026
Injectable Supramolecular Polymer-Nanoparticle Hydrogels for Cell and Drug Delivery Applications
Published on: February 7, 2021
In vitro cytotoxicity studies of hydrogel pullulan nanoparticles prepared by AOT/N-hexane micellar system
1Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, IBLS, Davidson Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. m.gupta@bio.gla.ac.uk
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to prepare crosslinked pullulan nanoparticles encapsulating bioactive molecules inside the aqueous core of Aerosol-OT/n-hexane reverse micellar droplets with narrow size distribution for drug and gene delivery applications.
Methods:
The nanoparticles have been characterised by various physico-chemical methods such as dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), loading capacity and in vitro release behaviour in aqueous buffer. The influence of these nanoparticles on human dermal fibroblasts in vitro has been assessed in terms of cell adhesion, cytotoxicity and light microscopy.
Results:
Size distribution studies using DLS and TEM show that the particles are spherical in shape with size of 42.0+/-2.5 nm diameter. Release of FITC-Dex from nanoparticles increased with time with 75% of dye released in 6 hours, while only 40% of the dye was released in the initial 2 hours. Results from cell adhesion/viability assay suggest that the pullulan nanoparticles are non-toxic to cells and do not cause any distinct harm to cells. Fibroblasts were healthy and maintained their morphology and adhesion capacity.
Conclusions:
These studies indicated that these nanoparticles have further merit as possible carriers for genes and nucleotide drugs for intracellular delivery.
