Hyaluronic acid nanogel (HyA-AT) is a redox sensitive crosslinkable nanogel, obtained through the conjugation of a thiolated hydrophobic molecule to the hyaluronic acid chain. Engineered nanogel was studied for its biocompatibility, including immunocompatibility and hemocompatability. The nanogel did not compromise the metabolic activity or cellular membrane integrity of 3T3, microvascular endothelial cells, and RAW 264.7 cell lines, as determined by the 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide and lactate dehydrogenase release assays. Also, we didn't observe any apoptotic effect on these cell lines through the Annexin V-FITC test. Furthermore, the nanogel cell internalization was analyzed using murine bone marrow derived macrophages, and the in vivo and ex vivo biodistribution of the Cy5.5 labeled nanogel was monitored using a non-invasive near-infrared fluorescence imaging system. The HyA-AT nanogel exhibits fairly a long half-live in the blood stream, thus showing potential for drug delivery applications.The authors thank the FCT Strategic
Project of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, the project RECI/
BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) and
the Project “BioHealth – Biotechnology and Bioengineering
approaches to improve health quality”, Ref. NORTE-07-0124-
FEDER-000027, co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional
do Norte (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER. The authors would
like to acknowledge also the support of FCT for the PhD grant
reference SFRH/BD/61516/2009. They would also like to thank
Bioimaging department on Molecular Medicine Institute (IMM)
in Lisbon, namely Dr José Rino and Dr António Temudo. Also
thank the animal facilities in IMM (Lisbon), specially Dr. Dolores
Bonaparte and Dr. Joana Marques.
Finally, the authors thank Dr Africa Gonzalez and Mercedes
Pelletero the performance of the studies on the activation of
complement
