Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 17, 2025
Synthesis of Stimuli-responsive Nanogels using Aqueous One-step Crosslinking and Co-nanopolymerization
Published on: January 24, 2025
Self-crosslinked keratin nanoparticles for pH and GSH dual responsive drug carriers
Lijuan Wang1, Jinsong Du1, Xiao Han1
1Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Bio-functional Materials, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Nano-drug delivery system (NDDS) has attracted widespread attention for their controlled drug release. In this work, keratin nanoparticles (KNPs) were prepared by self-crosslinking. No toxic chemical crosslinkers were added in the whole procedure. The morphology and size of KNPs were tested by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), respectively. The KNPs exhibited GSH and pH dual responsiveness as well as charge conversion, which were beneficial to tumor therapy. In addition, the anticancer drug of doxorubicin (DOX) could be loaded on KNPs by hydrophobicity and hydrogen bonds. The drug-loaded keratin nanoparticles (KDNPs) accelerated drug release under mimicked tumor microenvironments. In addition, KDNPs could effectively inhibit tumor cell growth while performing low toxicity on normal cells. Moreover, KDNPs could be uptaken by tumor cells through endocytosis. Based on the results, keratin-based nanoparticles were suitable candidates for drug microcarriers.
