Nanogels Derived from Fish Gelatin: Application to Drug Delivery System

The gelatin extracted from mammals of porcine and bovine has been prominently used in pharmaceutical, medical, and cosmetic products. However, there have been some concerns for their usage due to religious, social and cultural objections, and animal-to-human infectious disease. Recently, gelatin from marine by-products has received growing attention as an alternative to mammalian gelatin. In this study, we demonstrate the formation of nanogels (NGs) using fish gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) and their application possibility to the drug delivery system. The fabrication of fish GelMA NGs is carried out by crosslinking through the photopolymerization of the methacryloyl substituent present in the nanoemulsion droplets, followed by purification and redispersion. There were different characteristics depending on the aqueous phase in the emulsion and the type of solvent used in redispersion. The PBS-NGs/D.W., which was prepared using PBS for the aqueous phase and D.W. for the final dispersion solution, had a desirable particle size (<200 nm), low PdI (0.16), and high drug loading efficiency (77%). Spherical NGs particles were observed without aggregation in TEM images. In vitro release tests of doxorubicin (DOX)-GelMA NGs showed the pH-dependent release behavior of DOX. Also, the MTT experiments demonstrated that DOX-GelMA NGs effectively inhibited cell growth, while only GelMA NGs exhibit higher percentages of cell viability. Therefore, the results suggest that fish GelMA NGs have a potential for nano-carrier as fine individual particles without the aggregation and cytotoxicity to deliver small-molecule drugs.