Aragonese scientists develop nanocapsules that allow the controlled release of drugs and the destruction of malignant cells through their activation with light

• The prestigious magazine Advanced Functional Materials (Wiley-VCH) has highlighted this research, led by Manuel Arruebo and Víctor Sebastián, on its cover

Víctor Sebastián Cabeza and Manuel Arruebo, researchers from the Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragon (INMA), mixed center CSIC and the University of Zaragoza, from the Department of Chemical Engineering and TMA of the University of Zaragoza, from the Ciber-BBN and the Aragón Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón) have developed some nanocapsules that simultaneously contain drugs and also palladium sheets so that, through light stimuli, they can eliminate tumor cells or activate the controlled release of said drugs. The research work has been published in the HOME from the prestigious magazine Advanced Functional Materials (Wiley-VCH).

To obtain these results, the researchers have inserted palladium nanosheets, the only ones capable of transforming light energy into thermal energy, in some nanocarriers (capsules) made of a biodegradable polymer. To do this, researchers have developed, over the last three years, an innovative method that allows assemble palladium nanosheets inside these capsules. The assembly is done selectively and with such precision that it allows, in a single step, to generate the nanocarrier (the capsule) and introduce the drugs together with the precursors of the palladium nanosheets inside. Subsequently, and as a result of their previous work, the researchers have been able to join these palladium atoms in the form of nanosheets on the entire internal surface of the nanocarrier. According to Víctor Sebastián, “we have been able to manipulate the atoms enclosed in a 180 nm biodegradable plastic capsule, to subsequently generate 1,4 nm thick palladium nanosheets. The most relevant thing is that, for palladium, The nanosheet configuration is the only structure that allows infrared light to be converted into heat, it is something unique”. The location of the palladium nanosheets has been possible thanks to the work of Raúl Arenal's team, an international expert in electron microscopy, being able to perform 3D images of a system as fragile as a polymer through the use of the electronic cryotomography technique. Finally, its potential therapeutic uses have been studied, where it has been shown that, when activated externally with light, they are capable so much to eliminate melanoma cells as to release drugs in a controlled manner encapsulated inside.

This work can be considered a first step towards the design of hybrid systems at the nanoscale, with unprecedented precision and with functionality applicable to other nanocarriers in which it is desired to stimulate their multifunctionality with light.

In this study, in addition to Víctor Sebastián Cabeza and Manuel Arruebo, Raúl Arenal (ARAID researcher at INMA, leader of the Nanoscopy on Low Dimensional Materials (NLDM) group at INMA) has participated; Víctor Sebastián (member of the Advanced Microscopy Laboratory (LMA), University of Zaragoza); Laura Usón, Cristina Yus, Silvia Irusta and Teresa Alejo (INMA researchers); Gracia Mendoza (researcher at IIS Aragón); David García-Domingo (Aragonese Institute of Health Sciences (IACS); and Eric Leroy (member of the Institut de Chimie et et des Matériaux Paris-Est (ICMPE), CNRS/UPEC, Thiais (France)).

Bibliographic reference:

Nanoengineering Palladium Plasmonic Nanosheets Inside Polymer Nanospheres for Photothermal Therapy and Targeted Drug Delivery

Laura Uson, Cristina Yus, Gracia Mendoza, Eric Leroy, Silvia Irusta, Teresa Alejo,

David García-Domingo, Ane Larrea, Manuel Arruebo, Raul Arenal, and Victor Sebastian

Adv. Funct. Mater. 2022, 32, 2106932

Article

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.202106932

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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adfm.202270058