Thiolation of biopolymers is known to improve mucoadhesion, targeted tissue permeation and enzyme inhibition. Ambiguously, highly thiolated biopolymers display in situ gelling properties due to oxidative inter- and intra-molecular disulfide cross-linking. In order to exploit the reversible thiol-disulfide interconversion at a nanometer scale various thiolated biopolymers were processed into nanomaterials of different design. Nanoscale surface coatings were deposited on gold in a layer-by-layer fashion using cationic thiolated chitosan and glycosaminoglycan counterions. In another approach, nanoparticles were developed from thiolated biopolymers in a one-step sonochemical process. In both cases the degree of biopolymer thiolation was identified as a key factor controlling the thickness of the coating and the size of the nanoparticles. Additionally, the exploitation and therapeutic properties, e.g. biostability, drug delivery, cell-material interactions, and enzymes inhibition, of these novel nanomaterials were tunable by the thiol/disulfide ratio.

Thiol/disulfide rationale to formulate therapeutic biopolymer nanomaterials

245th National Meeting (2013)

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