SMART CUBOSOME FOR TRIGGERED RELEASE OF ACEMANNAN BIOACTIVE

Smart nanocarrier bioactive delivery systems are a current focus in nanomedicine for allowing and boosting diverse disease treatments. In this context, designed hybrid lipid-biopolymer particles can provide structure-sensitive features for tailored, triggered, and stimuli-responsive devices. We present a hybrid lipid cubosome surface modified by chitosan-N-arginine and alginate as a pH-responsive biopolymers shell, while acemannan, a bioactive polysaccharide extracted from Aloe vera, was encapsulated in the crystalline bioparticle nanochannels with high efficiency. The crystalline phase transition from Im3m cubic symmetry to inverse hexagonal HII promoted by acemannan provided means for triggering bioactive delivery by shortening lattice distances in the cubosome water nanochannels and thus water squeezing out [1]. The bioparticle's effective interaction with a lipid membrane of a giant unilamellar vesicle (GUV) leads to severe morphological changes as proof of the fusional process yielding tremendous membrane fluidity alteration, hence providing an instance for the bioparticles encapsulation in newly formed smaller vesicles and uptake [1]. The structure-responsive behavior of a smart bioparticle as an active membrane changer provides applicability perspectives as a triggering delivery device and as a cell modulator and internalization promoter.
[1] Madrid et al. J. Colloid Interface Science 673 (2024) 373–385. DOI:10.1016/j.jcis.2024.06.073
This work was supported by the Sao Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP (2021/00971-2; 2024/01040-0).