(487) Redox responsive nanogels for mucosal drug delivery
Introduction: Mucus presents a major barrier to deliver therapeutic biomacromolecules to lungs and other mucosal tissues. Thiol bearing materials recently gained interest due to their ability to overcome mucosal clearance and deliver drugs to submucosal layers in sufficient concentrations (1). Therefore, polymeric nanogels (NGs) incorporating these disulfide groups offer an ideal platform for transmucosal delivery that coopts the precision and nanoscale spatial resolution inherently afforded by in situ polymerization to produce precisely engineered redox-responsive particles (2) (Fig. 1).
Learning Objectives:
Explain how thiol-bearing materials reduce mucosal clearance through interactions with mucins.
Discuss the redox-responsive mechanisms enabling targeted drug release.
Identify the key features and advantages of disulfide-bearing nanogels in drug delivery.
