Self-assembled pH-responsive polymeric nanoparticles based on lignin-histidine conjugate with small particle size for efficient delivery of anti-tumor drugs

State‐of‐the‐Art: Applications and Industrialization of Lignin Micro/Nano Particles

“…Alqahtani et al applied the prepared LMNPs to the oral delivery of the lipophilic drug curcumin and the encapsulation rate of curcumin was as high as 92.4 %. [58] They found that the hydrophobicity of OL was a key factor controlling drug release rate. Pharmacokinetic data proved that, due to the sustained release of curcumin in LMNPs, the maximum plasma concentration was about 9 times as high as that of curcumin suspension, and oral bioavailability increased by 5.7 times, the drug residence time and half-life were obvious extended.…”

Photophysical and Antibacterial Properties of Porphyrins Encapsulated inside Acetylated Lignin Nanoparticles

“…To corroborate and elaborate this aspect, the influence of the pH on the medium for the free porphyrins and the encapsulated porphyrins was analyzed. In the literature, there are some examples where drug-loaded lignin nanoparticles are able to release their cargo into the media, in acidic pH [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ]. However, porphyrins loaded into acetylated lignin nanoparticles seem to be unaltered when the pH of the media fluctuates [ 20 ], and this could be due to a diminishing of the accessibility of the solvent during acetylated lignin nanoparticles formation [ 40 ], which could eventually lead to the permanent entrapment of porphyrins inside nanoparticles.…”

Lignin-based smart materials: a roadmap to processing and synthesis for current and future applications

“…151,152 Chemical modification of lignin instead of the polymer grafting strategy has also been demonstrated to be a useful route towards pH-responsive LNPs for drug delivery applications. [153][154][155] For instance, Chen et al synthesized pH-responsive lignin-based nanocapsules with the ability to load and release hydrophobic model compounds. 153 In their approach, lignosulfonate was modified with allyl groups in a classical esterification reaction followed by the preparation of the nanocapsules via an interfacial miniemulsion reaction, in which the modified lignin reacted with an acid-labile thiolbased crosslinking agent at the interface of miniemulsion droplets to form the nanocapsules through a thiol-ene coupling reaction ( Fig.…”

“…Later, Zhao et al reported the synthesis of ligninhistidine (L-His) conjugates through the amination reaction between lignin and histidine. 154 After the conjugation, L-His showed the ability to self-assemble in water to form homogenous nanoparticles with an average diameter of 30-40 nm, encapsulate hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT) as a drug model with moderate EE values (40%) and triggered release in different media. In addition, carboxylation of lignin has also proved to be an efficient approach for the fabrication of pH-responsive LNPs for controlled release.…”

“…As has been discussed above, lignin-based smart material for drug loading and release applications have mainly been based on the development of lignin-based polymers with the ability to form pH-responsive LNPs. 150,[153][154][155] Indeed, pH is without any doubt one of the most attractive stimuli since different parts of the body and cellular compartments present some variations in pH values which could be exploited to trigger selective release of drugs. 160 However, there are also many other stimuli in biological systems which can be exploited as is the case of redox potential, 161 endogenous gases 162 or certain enzymes, 163 which have been already integrated and employed in classical stimuli-responsive polymers, 147 while literature is lacking such reports on lignin-based smart materials.…”