Polydopamine-Modified Liposomes: Preparation and Recent Applications in the Biomedical Field

Polydopamine (PDA) is a bioinspired polymer that has unique and desirable properties for emerging applications in the biomedical field, such as extraordinary adhesiveness, extreme ease of functionalization, great biocompatibility, large drug loading capacity, good mucopenetrability, strong photothermal capacity, and pH-responsive behavior. Liposomes are consolidated and attractive biomimetic nanocarriers widely used in the field of drug delivery for their biocompatibility and biodegradability, as well as for their ability to encapsulate hydrophobic, hydrophilic, and amphiphilic compounds, even simultaneously. In addition, liposomes can be decorated with appropriate functionalities for targeted delivery purposes. Thus, combining the interesting properties of PDA with those of liposomes allows us to obtain multifunctional nanocarriers with enhanced stability, biocompatibility, and functionality. In this review, a focus on the most recent developments of liposomes modified with PDA, either in the form of polymer layers trapping multiple vesicles or in the form of PDA-coated nanovesicles, is proposed. These innovative PDA coatings extend the application range of liposomes into the field of biomedical applications, thereby allowing for easier functionalization with targeting ligands, which endows them with active release capabilities and photothermal activity and generally improves their interaction with biological fluids. Therefore, hybrid liposome/PDA systems are proposed for surface-mediated drug delivery and for the development of nanocarriers intended for systemic and oral drug delivery, as well as for multifunctional nanocarriers for cancer therapy. The main synthetic strategies for the preparation of PDA-modified liposomes are also illustrated. Finally, future prospects for PDA-coated liposomes are discussed, including the suggestion of potential new applications, deeper evaluation of side effects, and better personalization of medical treatments.

Recent advances in dopamine-based materials constructed via one-pot co-assembly strategy

Dopamine-based materials have attracted widespread interest due to the outstanding physicochemical and biological properties. Since the first report on polydopamine (PDA) films, great efforts have been devoted to develop new fabrication strategies for obtaining novel nanostructures and desirable properties. Among them, one-pot co-assembly strategy offers a unique pathway for integrating multiple properties and functions into dopamine-based platform in a single simultaneous co-deposition step. This review focuses on the state of the art development of one-pot multicomponent self-assembly of dopamine-based materials and summarizes various single-step co-deposition approaches, including PDA-assisted adaptive encapsulation, co-assembly of dopamine with other molecules through non-covalent interactions or covalent interactions. Moreover, emerging applications of dopamine-based materials in the fields ranging from sensing, cancer therapy, catalysis, oil/water separation to antifouling are outlined. In addition, some critical remaining challenges and opportunities are discussed to pave the way towards the rational design and applications of dopamine-based materials.

Polydopamine-Coated Antheraea pernyi (A. pernyi) Silk Fibroin Films Promote Cell Adhesion and Wound Healing in Skin Tissue Repair

Wound dressings are important materials for the successful recovery of skin trauma. Traditional wound dressings such as gauzes are not efficient in wound healing. Here we show that silk fibroin, spun from a wild silkworm Antheraea pernyi (A. pernyi) and rich in Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) sequences, can be developed into a wound dressing after proper modification for improving the cell adhesion to accelerate the skin repair. Specifically, polydopamine (PDA) was coated on an A. pernyi silk fibroin (AF) film to form the PAF film to achieve enhanced cell adhesion and would healing. The PDA coating significantly increased the roughness and hydrophilicity of the AF film and thus its protein absorption capability. Furthermore, the PAF films promoted the adhesion and migration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the in vitro wound healing assay. In vivo testing confirmed that wound covered with the PAF film was completely healed with the formation of the new skin and hair within 14 days post trauma. Histological examination indicated that, compared to the AF film and gauze control, the PAF film did not cause significant inflammation in the wound but promoted the epithelialization and well-organized collagen deposition in the dermis. This work indicates that AF films coated with PDA are promising wound dressings for skin tissue repair.

Liposomes and lipid bilayers in biosensors

Biosensors for the rapid, specific, and sensitive detection of analytes play a vital role in healthcare, drug discovery, food safety, and environmental monitoring. Although a number of sensing concepts and devices have been developed, many longstanding challenges to obtain inexpensive, easy-to-use, and reliable sensor platforms remain largely unmet. Nanomaterials offer exciting possibilities for enhancing the assay sensitivity and for lowering the detection limits down to single-molecule resolution. In this review, we present an overview of liposomes and lipid bilayers in biosensing applications. Lipid assemblies in the form of spherical liposomes or two-dimensional planar membranes have been widely used in the design of biosensing assays; in particular, we highlight a number of recent promising developments of biosensors based on liposomes in suspension, liposome arrays, and lipid bilayers arrays. Assay sensitivity and specificity are discussed, advantages and drawbacks are reviewed, and possible further developments are outlined.

Therapeutic PCL scaffold for reparation of resected osteosarcoma defect

Osteosarcomas are highly malignant tumors, which develop rapid growth and local infiltration, inducing metastases that spread primarily in the lung. Treatment of these tumors is mainly based on pre- and post-operative chemotherapy and surgery of the primary tumor. Surgical resection though, generates bone defects. Reparation of these weaknesses presents formidable challenges to orthopedic surgery. Medicine regenerative grafts that act as both tumor therapy with constant local drug delivery and tissue regeneration may provide a new prospect to address this need. These implants can provide sustained drug release at the cancer area, decreasing systemic second effects such as inflammation, and a filling of the resected tissues with regenerative biomaterials. In this study microporous poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) scaffolds have been developed for sustained local release of anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone (DXM), used as drug model, in cancer medicine regenerative field. The microporous PCL matrix of the scaffolds supported the attachment, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of osteoblast-like cells, while the polyelectrolyte multilayers, anchored to the inner pore surfaces, sustained locally DXM release. These microporous scaffolds demonstrate the ability to deliver DXM as a localized tumor therapy and to promote proliferation and differentiation of osteoblast-like cells in vitro.

Small Subcompartmentalized Microreactors as Support for Hepatocytes

Mimicking specific structural or functional aspects of cells is considered a promising approach to substitute for missing or lost cellular functions. However, the interaction of such artificial assemblies with their biological counterparts including the exploitation of the activity of the synthetic partner remains thus-far a rather unexplored avenue. Herein, the assembly of active microreactors with similar size to hepatocytes is reported. These microreactors are successfully cocultured with hepatocytes into bionic tissue for up to 10 d. Further, microreactors loaded with the liver enzyme catalase are effective in alleviating external pressure, induced by the addition of hydrogen peroxide, from such bionic tissue in an attempt to mimic the detoxification ability of hepatocytes. Taken together, the findings open up a different route in combining synthetic and biological entities for tissue engineering by using the former partner not only as structural support, but also to induce beneficial activity.

Recent developments in polydopamine: an emerging soft matter for surface modification and biomedical applications

After more than four billion years of evolution, nature has created a large number of fascinating living organisms, which show numerous peculiar structures and wonderful properties. Nature can provide sources of plentiful inspiration for scientists to create various materials and devices with special functions and uses. Since Messersmith proposed the fabrication of multifunctional coatings through mussel-inspired chemistry, this field has attracted considerable attention for its promising and exiciting applications. Polydopamine (PDA), an emerging soft matter, has been demonstrated to be a crucial component in mussel-inspired chemistry. In this review, the recent developments of PDA for mussel-inspired surface modification are summarized and discussed. The biomedical applications of PDA-based materials are also highlighted. We believe that this review can provide important and timely information regarding mussel-inspired chemistry and will be of great interest for scientists in the chemistry, materials, biology, medicine and interdisciplinary fields.

Recent developments in poly(dopamine)-based coatings for biomedical applications

The success of polymer coatings for biomedical applications is undeniable. Among the very successful examples are poly(dopamine) (PDA) films due to their simplicity in deposition and beneficial interaction with biomolecules and cells. The aim of this review is to highlight the findings and achievement of PDA in nanomedicine since 2011. We discuss the progress that has been made to elucidate the structure of PDA and novel aspects considering the assembly of PDA-based films on diverse substrates. We highlight the newest results considering the biological evaluation PDA-based coatings to control cell behavior and the use of PDA in biosensing. The popularity of PDA remains unchanged, but the research efforts start to be consolidated toward more specific aims and clinical applications.

Mixed poly(dopamine)/poly(L-lysine) (composite) coatings: from assembly to interaction with endothelial cells

Engineered polymer films are of significant importance in the field of biomedicine. Poly(dopamine) (PDA) is becoming more and more a key player in this context. Herein, we deposited mixed films consisting of PDA and poly(L-lysine) (PLL) of different molecular weights. The coatings were characterized by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The protein adsorption to the mixed films was found to decrease with increasing amounts of PLL. PDA/PLL capsules were also successfully assembled. Higher PLL content in the membranes reduced their thickness while the ζ-potential increased. Further, endothelial cell adhesion and proliferation over 96 h were found to be independent of the type of coating. Using PDA/PLL in liposome-containing composite coatings showed that sequential deposition of the layers yielded higher liposome trapping compared to one-step adsorption except for negatively charged liposomes. Association/uptake of fluorescent cargo by adherent endothelial cells was found to be different for PDA and PDA/PLL films. Taken together, our findings illustrate the potential of PDA/PLL mixed films as coatings for biomedical applications.

A block copolymer of zwitterionic polyphosphoester and polylactic acid for drug delivery

Zwitterionic polyphosphoester containing polymers are synthesized and evaluated as an alternative to poly(ethylene glycol) block copolymers for anticancer drug delivery.

Liposome-containing polymer films and colloidal assemblies towards biomedical applications

Liposomes are important components for biomedical applications. Their unique architecture and versatile nature have made them useful carriers for the delivery of therapeutic cargo. The scope of this minireview is to highlight recent developments of biomimetic liposome-based multicompartmentalized assemblies of polymer thin films and colloidal carriers, and to outline a selection of recent applications of these materials in bionanotechnology.

Biocatalytic polymer thin films: optimization of the multilayered architecture towards in situ synthesis of anti-proliferative drugs

We report on the assembly of multi-layered polyelectrolyte thin films containing an immobilized enzyme to perform conversion of externally administered prodrugs and achieve delivery of the resulting therapeutics to adhering cells. Towards this goal, multi-layered coatings were assembled using poly(sodium styrene sulfonate) and poly(allylamine hydrochloride). Activity of the incorporated enzyme was quantified as a function of the assembly conditions, position of the enzyme within the multi-layered architecture, concentration of the enzyme in the adsorption solution, and concentration of the administered prodrug. Biocatalytic coatings exhibited sustained levels of enzymatic activity over at least one week of incubation in physiological buffers without signs of loss of activity of the enzyme. Developed enzyme-containing polymer films afforded zero-order release of the in situ synthesized cargo with kinetics of synthesis (nM per hour) covering at least 3 orders of magnitude. Internalization of the synthesized product by adhering cells was visualized using a fluorogenic enzyme substrate. Therapeutic utility of biocatalytic coatings was demonstrated using a myoblast cell line and a prodrug for the anti-proliferative agent, 5-fluorouridine. Taken together, this work presents a novel approach to delivery of small molecule drugs using multi-layered polymer thin films with utility in surface-mediated drug delivery, assembly of therapeutic implantable devices, and tissue engineering.

Biocatalytic polymer coatings: on-demand drug synthesis and localized therapeutic effect under dynamic cell culture conditions

Biocatalytic surface coatings are prepared herein for localized synthesis of drugs and their on-demand, site-specific delivery to adhering cells. This novel approach is based on the incorporation of an enzyme into multilayered polymer coatings to accomplish enzyme-prodrug therapy (EPT). The build-up of enzyme-containing multilayered coatings is characterized and correlations are drawn between the multilayer film assembly conditions and the enzymatic activity of the resulting coatings. Therapeutic effect elicited by the substrate mediated EPT (SMEPT) strategy is investigated using a prodrug for an anticancer agent, SN-38. The performance of biocatalytic coatings under flow conditions is investigated and it is demonstrated that EPT allows synthesizing the drugs on-demand, at the time desired and in a controllable amount to suit particular applications. Finally, using cells cultured in sequentially connected flow chambers, it is demonstrated that SMEPT affords a site-specific drug delivery, that is, exerts a higher therapeutic effect in cells adhering directly to the biocatalytic coatings than in the cells cultured "downstream". Taken together, these data illustrate biomedical opportunities made possible by engineering tools of EPT into multilayered polymer coatings and present a novel, highly versatile tool for surface mediated drug delivery.

Recent progress of liposomes in nanomedicine

Liposome formulations are highlighted focusing on their chemical modification, interaction with cells, and use in substrate-mediated drug delivery and cell mimicry.

Immobilization of bioactive factor-loaded liposomes on the surface of electrospun nanofibers targeting tissue engineering

Dexamethasone-loaded liposomes immobilized at the surface of electrospun polycaprolactone nanofiber meshes successfully promoted the osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells.