TY - JOUR
T1 - On the role of polymeric hydrogels in the thermal response of gold nanorods under NIR laser irradiation
AU - Lacroce, Elisa
AU - Bianchi, Leonardo
AU - Polito, Laura
AU - Korganbayev, Sanzhar
AU - Molinelli, Alessandro
AU - Sacchetti, Alessandro
AU - Saccomandi, Paola
AU - Rossi, Filippo
N1 - Funding Information:
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 759159). This project has received funding from Fondazione Cariplo (grant no. 2017–2025).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 RSC
PY - 2023/12/21
Y1 - 2023/12/21
N2 - Hydrogels are 3D cross-linked networks of polymeric chains designed to be used in the human body. Nowadays they find widespread applications in the biomedical field and are particularly attractive as drug delivery vectors. However, despite many good results, their release performance is sometimes very quick and uncontrolled, being forced by the high in vivo clearance of body fluids. In this direction, the development of novel responsive nanomaterials promises to overcome the drawbacks of common hydrogels, inducing responsive properties in three-dimensional polymeric devices. In this study, we synthesized and then loaded gold nanorods (Au NRs) within an agarose-carbomer (AC)-based hydrogel obtained from a microwave-assisted polycondensation reaction between carbomer 974P and agarose. The photothermal effect of the composite device was quantified in terms of maximum temperature and spatial-temporal temperature distribution, also during consecutive laser irradiations. This work shows that composite Au NRs loaded within AC hydrogels can serve as a stable photothermal treatment agent with enhanced photothermal efficiency and good thermal stability after consecutive laser irradiations. These results confirm that the composite system produced can exhibit an enhanced thermal effect under NIR laser irradiation, which is expected to lead to great therapeutic advantages for the localized treatment of different diseases.
AB - Hydrogels are 3D cross-linked networks of polymeric chains designed to be used in the human body. Nowadays they find widespread applications in the biomedical field and are particularly attractive as drug delivery vectors. However, despite many good results, their release performance is sometimes very quick and uncontrolled, being forced by the high in vivo clearance of body fluids. In this direction, the development of novel responsive nanomaterials promises to overcome the drawbacks of common hydrogels, inducing responsive properties in three-dimensional polymeric devices. In this study, we synthesized and then loaded gold nanorods (Au NRs) within an agarose-carbomer (AC)-based hydrogel obtained from a microwave-assisted polycondensation reaction between carbomer 974P and agarose. The photothermal effect of the composite device was quantified in terms of maximum temperature and spatial-temporal temperature distribution, also during consecutive laser irradiations. This work shows that composite Au NRs loaded within AC hydrogels can serve as a stable photothermal treatment agent with enhanced photothermal efficiency and good thermal stability after consecutive laser irradiations. These results confirm that the composite system produced can exhibit an enhanced thermal effect under NIR laser irradiation, which is expected to lead to great therapeutic advantages for the localized treatment of different diseases.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85170543332
U2 - 10.1039/d3na00353a
DO - 10.1039/d3na00353a
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85170543332
SN - 2516-0230
VL - 5
SP - 6870
EP - 6879
JO - Nanoscale Advances
JF - Nanoscale Advances
IS - 24
ER -