a School of Pharmacy , Shenyang Pharmaceutical University , Shenyang , China.
b School of Chinese Materia Medica , Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine , Guangzhou , China.
Drug Deliv. 2018 Nov;25(1):278-292. doi: 10.1080/10717544.2018.1425776.
Polymer nano-sized hydrogels (nanogels) as drug delivery carriers have been investigated over the last few decades. Pullulan, a nontoxic and nonimmunogenic hydrophilic polysaccharide derived from fermentation of black yeast like Aureobasidium pullulans with great biocompatibility and biodegradability, is one of the most attractive carriers for drug delivery systems. In this review, we describe the preparation, characterization, and 'switch-on/off' mechanism of typical pullulan self-assembled nanogels (self-nanogels), and then introduce the development of hybrid hydrogels that are numerous resources applied for regenerative medicine. A major section is used for biomedical applications of different nanogel systems based on modified pullulan, which exert smart stimuli-responses at ambient conditions such as charge, pH, temperature, light, and redox. Pullulan self-nanogels have found increasingly extensive application in protein delivery, tissue engineering, vaccine development, cancer therapy, and biological imaging. Functional groups are incorporated into self-nanogels and contribute to expressing desirable results such as targeting and modified release. Various molecules, especially insoluble or unstable drugs and encapsulated proteins, present improved solubility and bioavailability as well as reduced side effects when incorporated into self-nanogels. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of pullulan self-nanogels will be analyzed accordingly, and the development of pullulan nanogel systems will be reviewed.
聚合物纳米水凝胶（纳米凝胶）作为药物传递载体在过去几十年中得到了广泛研究。普鲁兰是一种来源于黑酵母如出芽短梗霉发酵的无毒、非免疫原性的亲水性多糖，具有良好的生物相容性和可生物降解性，是药物传递系统最有吸引力的载体之一。在这篇综述中，我们描述了典型的普鲁兰自组装纳米凝胶（自纳米凝胶）的制备、表征和“开/关”机制，然后介绍了混合水凝胶的发展，这些水凝胶是许多应用于再生医学的资源。一个主要部分用于基于修饰的普鲁兰的不同纳米凝胶系统的生物医学应用，这些纳米凝胶系统在环境条件下（如电荷、pH 值、温度、光和氧化还原）表现出智能的刺激响应。普鲁兰自纳米凝胶在蛋白质传递、组织工程、疫苗开发、癌症治疗和生物成像等方面得到了越来越广泛的应用。将功能基团引入自纳米凝胶中有助于表达靶向和改良释放等理想效果。各种分子，特别是不溶性或不稳定的药物和包封的蛋白质，当被包裹在自纳米凝胶中时，提高了溶解度和生物利用度，并降低了副作用。最后，将对普鲁兰自纳米凝胶的优缺点进行分析，并对普鲁兰纳米凝胶系统的发展进行综述。
