Dual-Responsive Nanotubes Assembled by Amphiphilic Dendrimers: Controlled Release and Crosslinking

Although stimuli-responsive release systems have attracted great attention in medical applications, there has been no attempt at “precise” deep profile control based on such systems, which is greatly need to improve oil recovery. With this in mind, we provided a facile and simple strategy to prepare stimuli-responsive composite capsules of amphiphilic dendrimers–poly(styrene sulfonic acid) sodium/halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) via layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly technique, controlling the release crosslinking agent methenamine under different pH or salinity conditions. The release time of methenamine encapsulated in multilayer shells is about 40 h, which can be prolonged with the introduction of salt or shortened via the addition of acid, which accordingly induces the gelation of polyacrylamide (PAM) solutions, taking from a few hours to a dozen days. This study provided a novel approach for controllable release of chemical agents and controllable crosslinking of deep profiles in many application fields.

Amphiphilic dendrimers control protein binding and corona formation on liposome nanocarriers

Amphiphilic polyphenylene dendrimers adsorbed to liposomes alter the protein corona dependent on their charge and hydrophobicity.

Evolution from Covalent to Self-Assembled PAMAM-Based Dendrimers as Nanovectors for siRNA Delivery in Cancer by Coupled In Silico-Experimental Studies. Part I: Covalent siRNA Nanocarriers

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) represent a new approach towards the inhibition of gene expression; as such, they have rapidly emerged as promising therapeutics for a plethora of important human pathologies including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and other disorders of a genetic etiology. However, the clinical translation of RNA interference (RNAi) requires safe and efficient vectors for siRNA delivery into cells. Dendrimers are attractive nanovectors to serve this purpose, as they present a unique, well-defined architecture and exhibit cooperative and multivalent effects at the nanoscale. This short review presents a brief introduction to RNAi-based therapeutics, the advantages offered by dendrimers as siRNA nanocarriers, and the remarkable results we achieved with bio-inspired, structurally flexible covalent dendrimers. In the companion paper, we next report our recent efforts in designing, characterizing and testing a series of self-assembled amphiphilic dendrimers and their related structural alterations to achieve unprecedented efficient siRNA delivery both in vitro and in vivo.