(392b) Graduate Student Award Session: Stimuli-Responsive Hydrogel Microparticle Populations As a ‘Plug and Play’ Model for Controlled and Tailorable Therapeutic Delivery
AIChE Annual Meeting
2019
2019 AIChE Annual Meeting
Materials Engineering and Sciences Division
Biomaterials: Graduate Student Award Session
Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - 3:44pm to 3:58pm
Here, hydrogel microparticle populations that respond to either internal (i.e., reducing environments) or external (i.e., light) cues were designed to release multiple therapeutics across several time scales. These microparticles were synthesized using microfluidic devices, and the chemical nature of the hydrogel crosslink was engineered to respond to either glutathione, over several days, or light, over minutes. A thiol-Michael addition reaction between maleimide functionalized linear poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and PEG-tetra-thiol was utilized for hydrogel polymerization. Reduction sensitivity to glutathione (GSH), a tripeptide upregulated in diseased tissue, was imparted using aryl-thiol based thioether succinimide bonds which can undergo a retro-Michael reaction in the presence of exogenous alkyl thiols.5,6 To control the rate of degradation in response to GSH the ratio of aryl- to alkyl-thiol based crosslinks in the hydrogel backbone was altered, as the latter do not undergo the retro reaction leading to hydrogel degradation.7 Light sensitivity was added to particles through the incorporation of o-nitrobenzyl linkers, which respond to long wavelength UV light, short wavelength visible light, and two-photon near infrared light.8
Hydrogel microparticle size, degradation rate, and protein release rate were determined in vitro. The size of microparticles was minimally affected by the polymerization mechanism, chemical nature of the crosslink, or the loaded cargo. The degradation and protein release profiles for each of the different hydrogel microparticle formulations were assessed in silico using a statistical-kinetic model for degradation and in vitro using fluorescent microscopy and a plate reader to monitor the concentration of model fluorescent proteins encapsulated within the hydrogels. After individual assessment of the microparticle formulations, particles that responded differently to a given stimulus were loaded with dissimilar model proteins and mixed together to investigate combinatorial release profiles. The ability to mix microparticles that respond to stimuli on different time scales together provides a âplug and playâ mechanism for creating personalized therapeutic regimens for combination therapy.
References
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