Novel nanogels for drug binding and delivery

There is a vital need for efficient ultrasmall, biocompatible vehicles for extraction and release of drugs, toxics as well as sensory attributes etc. Appropriately modified crosslinked polymeric nanogels and liposomes meet this need as they are porous or vesicular in nature. Poly(acrylamide) (PAM) and poly(acrylic acid)(PAA) and liposomes nanogels with narrow size distribution have been tested in this work for drug binding and release. For enhanced efficiency, systematic modifications of the nanogels by a two-step postgrafting strategy were carried out successfully. Drug encapsulation experiments using amitriptyline and bupivacaine as target drug molecules were conducted with these nanogels as well as liposomes in order to determine their use for scavenging the overdosed drugs. The modified nanogels and liposomes showed marked capability to extract overdosed drugs. Results show nanogels and liposomes to be powerful vehicles for drug binding and delivery types of applications if modified appropriately.