Dendritic Thermoresponsive Nanogels as Versatile Platforms for Biomedical Applications

MARIA MOLINA ; MICHAEL GIULBUDAGIAN; MAZDAK ASADIAN-BIRJAND; STEFANIE WEDEPOHL ; MARCELO CALDERON

Simposio; XIV Simposio Latinoamericano de Polímeros; 2014

Nanogels are nanosized crosslinked networks composed of hydrophilic or amphiphilic polymer chains. They are developed as carriers to transport small molecules such as drugs, dyes, or biomacromolecules. Thermoresponsive polymers undergo a phase transition at a certain temperature in aqueous media. As a consequence, they can change their aggregation state, exhibit conformational change and undergo shrinking, swelling, or micellization upon a thermal trigger. The combination of nanogel properties and thermoresponsiveness represents a promising approach for the development of smart nanocarrier systems, which reveals high loading capacity, improves drug stability, and thus can be used for stimuli-controlled release in drug delivery. Herein, the engineering of thermoresponsive dendritic nanogels using different thermoresponsive polymers and synthetic methodologies for biomedical applications is presented.