A review on core–shell structured unimolecular nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Abstract

Polymeric unimolecular nanoparticles (NPs) exhibiting a core-shell structure and formed by a single multi-arm molecule containing only covalent bonds have attracted increasing attention for numerous biomedical applications. This unique single-molecular architecture provides the unimolecular NP with superior stability both in vitro and in vivo, a high drug loading capacity, as well as versatile surface chemistry, thereby making it a desirable nanoplatform for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. In this review, we surveyed the architecture of various types of polymeric unimolecular NPs, including water-dispersible unimolecular micelles and water-soluble unimolecular NPs used for the delivery of hydrophobic and hydrophilic agents, respectively, as well as their diverse biomedical applications. Future opportunities and challenges of unimolecular NPs were also briefly discussed.

Unveiling the effect of 11-MUA coating on biocompatibility and catalytic activity of a gold-core cerium oxide-shell-based nanozyme

“…4E-H). Conversely, different concentrations (10,20,40,60,80, and 100 mg mL À1 ) of 11-MUA coated AuNPs did not induce any signicant alteration of the cell morphology (Fig. 4C 0 -H 0 ).…”

“…4A). Data clearly show that 20 mg mL À1 concentration of CTAB coated CSNPs induced signicant death ($40%) to liver cells, whereas higher concentrations (40,60,80 and 100 mg mL À1 ) showed further enhanced toxicity and decrease to cell viability up to 90%. Interestingly, 11-MUA coated AuNPs did not show any toxicity to WRL-68 cells up to 100 mg mL À1 concentration.…”

“…Core-shell NPs are reported to be applicable in several biological applications such as mimicking the activities of multienzyme complexes, sensitive detection of analytes of biological importance, multimodal imaging, and drug delivery strategies. [39][40][41] CTAB is a cationic surfactant, therefore, causes damage to the cell membrane. 42,43 Therefore, it must be removed completely to realize any biological application of our CSNPs.…”

“…4 Biocompatibility assessment of NPs: the % reduction of MTT dye observed from human liver (WRL-68) cells exposed to different concentrations of CTAB coated CSNPs and 11-MUA coated AuNPs (A). The cell morphology pattern was investigated by imaging of the cells exposed to different concentrations (10,20,40,60,80, and 100 mg mL À1 ) of CTAB coated CSNPs (C, D, E, F, G, and H) and 11-MUA coated AuNPs (C 0 , D 0 , E 0 , F 0 , G 0 and H 0 ), respectively. B and B 0 are untreated control.…”

Immediate release of helicid from nanoparticles produced by modified coaxial electrospraying

“…The core-shell structure, comprising two different sections with an inner-outer spatial relationship, is probably the most commonly used starting point for designing functional nanomaterials [31][32][33]. In pharmaceutics, it can provide a series of strategies for resolving challenges such as avoiding an initial burst release, protecting easily-degraded drugs from the environment, targeting release, and manipulating spatiotemporal drug release profiles [34][35][36][37][38]. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports where electrosprayed particles have been prepared using a drug-loaded shell to control the drug release profile and where the core section serves as a support.…”