Gomes Valéria, Veloso Sérgio R S, Carvalho André, Hilliou Loic, Coutinho Paulo J G, Moura Cacilda, Martins José A, Castanheira Elisabete M S, Ferreira Paula M T
Centre of Physics of Minho and Porto Universities, Campus de Gualtar, Braga, Portugal.
Centre of Chemistry, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Braga, Portugal.
J Pept Sci. 2025 Jan;31(1):e3650. doi: 10.1002/psc.3650. Epub 2024 Aug 24.
Supramolecular hydrogels, particularly low-molecular-weight peptide hydrogels, are promising drug delivery systems due to their ability to change the solubility, targeting, metabolism and toxicity of drugs. Magneto-plasmonic liposomes, in addition to being remotely controllable with the application of an external magnetic field, also increase the efficiency of encapsulated drug release through thermal stimulation, for example, with magnetic and optical hyperthermia. Thus, the combination of those two materials-giving magneto-plasmonic lipogels-brings together several functionalities, among which are hyperthermia and spatiotemporally controlled drug delivery. In this work, a novel dehydrodipeptide hydrogelator was synthesised, and the respective hydrogel was functionalized with magneto-plasmonic liposomes. After individually characterising the components with regard to their rheological, spectroscopic and magnetic properties, the magneto-plasmonic lipogel was equally characterised and evaluated concerning its ability to deliver drugs in a controlled fashion. To this end, the response of the 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein-loaded magneto-plasmonic lipogel to near-infrared light was assessed. The results showed that the system is a proper carrier of hydrophilic drugs and allows to envisage photo-responsive drug delivery. These facts, together with the magnetic guidance and hyperthermia capabilities of the developed composite gel, may pave the way to a new era in the treatment of cancer and other diseases.
超分子水凝胶，尤其是低分子量肽水凝胶，由于其能够改变药物的溶解度、靶向性、代谢和毒性，是很有前景的药物递送系统。磁等离子体脂质体除了可以通过施加外部磁场进行远程控制外，还能通过热刺激（例如磁热疗和光热疗）提高包封药物的释放效率。因此，将这两种材料结合形成磁等离子体脂质凝胶，汇集了多种功能，其中包括热疗和时空可控的药物递送。在这项工作中，合成了一种新型的脱氢二肽水凝胶剂，并用磁等离子体脂质体对相应的水凝胶进行了功能化。在分别对各组分的流变学、光谱学和磁性进行表征后，对磁等离子体脂质凝胶以可控方式递送药物的能力进行了同样的表征和评估。为此，评估了负载5(6)-羧基荧光素的磁等离子体脂质凝胶对近红外光的响应。结果表明，该系统是亲水性药物的合适载体，并有望实现光响应性药物递送。这些事实，再加上所开发的复合凝胶的磁导向和热疗能力，可能为癌症和其他疾病的治疗开创一个新时代。
