Core-Shell Structures of Oligosaccharide-Functionalized Hyperbranched Poly(ethylene imines)

Synthesis and characterization of novel functional hyperbranched polyamides from AB2 units: effect of extra functional groups

Hyperbranched polymers (HPs), which in terms of structure may be compared to the branching structure of trees, are referred to as tree-like materials, but role of leave in these tree-like polymers is neglected and much attention has only been paid to their branches. In fact, functional groups in these polymers play a vital role the same as the role of leaves in trees. Therefore, in this paper, an attempt has been made to design and synthesize three AB₂ monomers containing extra hydroxyl and nitro groups. The benefits of their presence in the structure of produced hyperbranched polyamides (HPs) are investigated. The polymer structure was characterized by FT-IR and ¹ H NMR. The solubility of synthesized HPs was studied in different protic and aprotic solvents. The thermal stability of the prepared HPs was investigated by thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetric analyses. The photoluminescent properties of the HPs were also investigated.

Interactions of bioactive molecules with thin dendritic glycopolymer layers

The authors report on highly swellable, stable layers of spherical dendritic glycopolymers, composed of hyperbranched poly(ethylene imine) (PEI) as core and two different maltose shells (A = dense shell and B = open shell). These glycopolymers are cross-linked and attached with poly(ethylene-alt-maleic anhydride) (PEMA) or citric acid on SiO_x substrates. The swelling and adsorption of biomolecules were analyzed by spectroscopic ellipsometry and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation. The swelling degree and complexation with the drug molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) were found to be up to 10 times higher for dendritic glycopolymer layers cross-linked with PEMA than for layers cross-linked with citric acid. ATP complexation by electrostatic interaction with the PEI cores was confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. Complexation led to partial collapsing, stiffening, and increase of polymer layer viscosity of the PEMA cross-linked layers. From modeling of ellipsometric data, it was deduced that ATP complexation preferably takes place at the polymer layer-solution interface. The size effect of the adsorbates was investigated by comparing ATP complexation with the adsorption of larger vitamin B12 and human serum albumin (HSA) protein. PEI-Mal A cross-linked with PEMA was found to be resistant toward B12 and HSA adsorption due to the diffusion barrier of the polymer layer. Thus, the authors present potentially biocompatible polymer surfaces for drug loading and their surface supported release.

Anti-cancerous effect of albumin coated silver nanoparticles on MDA-MB 231 human breast cancer cell line

With the aim of making specific targeting of silver nanoparticles as a drug for tumor cells and developing new anticancer agents, a novel nano-composite was developed. Albumin coated silver nanoparticles (ASNPs) were synthesized, and their anti-cancerous effects were evaluated against MDA-MB 231, a human breast cancer cell line. The synthesized ASNPs were characterized by spectroscopic methods. The morphological changes of the cells were observed by inverted, florescent microscopy and also by DNA ladder pattern on gel electrophoresis; the results revealed that the cell death process occurred through the apoptosis mechanism. It was found that ASNPs with a size of 90 nm and negatively charged with a zeta-potential of about −20 mV could be specifically taken up by tumor cells. The LD₅₀ of ASNPs against MDA-MB 231 (5 μM), was found to be 30 times higher than that for white normal blood cells (152 μM). The characteristics of the synthesized ASNPs included; intact structure of coated albumin, higher cytotoxicity against cancer cells than over normal cells, and cell death based on apoptosis and reduction of gland tumor sizes in mice. This work indicates that ASNPs could be a good candidate for chemotherapeutic drug.

Temperature-driven self-assembly of self-limiting uniform supraparticles from non-uniform unimolecular micelles

In this work, the self-assembly of non-uniform unimolecular micelles constituted of a hyperbranched polyester core decorated with a corona of thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) chains has been studied. As revealed by dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), these unimicelles form uniform supraparticles through a thermally-induced self-limited process, as well as exhibit molecular features commonly observed in PNIPAm-based gels. We believe that these results provide new insights into the application of stimuli-responsive polymeric materials as versatile building blocks to build up soft supraparticles displaying well-defined dimensional characteristics.

Effects of dendritic core-shell glycoarchitectures on primary mesenchymal stem cells and osteoblasts obtained from different human donors

The biological impact of novel nano-scaled drug delivery vehicles in highly topical therapies of bone diseases have to be investigated in vitro before starting in vivo trials. Highly desired features for these materials are a good cellular uptake, large transport capacity for drugs and a good bio-compatibility. Essentially the latter has to be addressed as first point on the agenda. We present a study on the biological interaction of maltose-modified poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI-Mal) on primary human mesenchymal stem cell, harvested from reaming debris (rdMSC) and osteoblasts obtained from four different male donors. PEI-Mal-nanoparticles with two different molecular weights of the PEI core (5000 g/mol for PEI-5k-Mal-B and 25,000 g/mol for PEI-25k-Mal-B) have been administered to both cell lines. As well dose as incubation-time dependent effects and interactions have been researched for concentrations between 1 μg/ml to 1 mg/ml and periods of 24 h up to 28 days. Studies conducted by different methods of microscopy as light microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, transmission-electron-microscopy and quantitative assays (LDH and DC-protein) indicate as well a good cellular uptake of the nanoparticles as a particle- and concentration-dependent impact on the cellular macro- and micro-structure of the rdMSC samples. In all experiments PEI-5k-Mal-B exhibits a superior biocompatibility compared to PEI-25k-Mal-B. At higher concentrations PEI-25k-Mal-B is toxic and induces a directly observable mitochondrial damage. The alkaline phosphatase assay (ALP), has been conducted to check on the possible influence of nanoparticles on the differentiation capabilities of rdMSC to osteoblasts. In addition the production of mineralized matrix has been shown by von-Kossa stained samples. No influence of the nanoparticles on the ALP per cell has been detected. Additionally, for all experiments, results are strongly influenced by a large donor-to-donor variability of the four different rdMSC samples. To summarize, while featuring a good cellular uptake, PEI-5k-Mal-B induces only minimal adverse effects and features clearly superior biocompatibility compared to the larger PEI-25k-Mal-B.

Characterization of oligosaccharide-functionalized hyperbranched poly(ethylene imine) and their complexes with retinol in aqueous solution

Structure, internal density distribution, and size of hyperbranched poly(ethylene imine) (PEI) functionalized with various amounts of maltose (PEI-Mal) in phosphate buffer were studied by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The value of pH was varied in the range from 3 to 9. Virtually no effect of pH on the nanostructure was found in this interval. The SAXS results revealed a broad segmental radial density distribution, i.e. a "fluffy" globular structure rather than a distinct core-shell structure with a high-density compact core and a low-density corona. This suggests that the maltose units are rather evenly distributed both in the interior and on the surface of the species with a PEI-core of molar mass of 25,000g/mol. The DLS measurements showed that the overall size of the PEI-Mal derivatives increased as the number of maltose units in the PEI-Mal structures rises. The interaction of the hydrophobic model drug retinol with PEI or PEI-Mal derivatives was also investigated. The UV-visible spectroscopy results disclosed that the solubility of retinol in the phosphate buffer is very poor and it takes a very long time to solubilize retinol. Moreover, retinol induces aggregation of dendritic glycopolymers where the growth of aggregates occurs continuously over several days and then remains virtually constant.

Dendritic glycopolymers based on dendritic polyamine scaffolds: view on their synthetic approaches, characteristics and potential for biomedical applications

The potential of dendritic glycopolymers based on dendritic polyamine scaffolds for biomedical applications is presented and compared with that of the structurally related anti-adhesive dendritic glycoconjugates.