Smriti R Deka

Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) , Genova, Liguria, Italy

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Publications (2)10.1 Total impact

Article: Magnetic nanobeads decorated by thermo-responsive PNIPAM shell as medical platforms for the efficient delivery of doxorubicin to tumour cells.

Smriti R Deka, Alessandra Quarta, Riccardo Di Corato, Andreas Riedinger, Roberto Cingolani, Teresa Pellegrino

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ABSTRACT: Medical nanoplatforms based on clusters of superparamagnetic nanoparticles decorated with a PNIPAM thermo-responsive shell have been synthesized and used as drug carriers for doxorubicin (DOXO), a common chemotherapeutic agent. The nanosystem here developed has a total diameter below 200 nm and exploits the temperature responsive behaviour of the PNIPAM polymeric shell for the controlled loading and release of DOXO. The system has been tested in vitro on tumour cells and it clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of drug polymer encapsulation and time-dependent cell death induced by the doxorubicin release. Comparative cellular studies of the DOXO loaded nanoplatform in the presence or absence of an external magnet (0.3 T) showed the synergic effect of accumulation and enhanced toxicity of the system, when magnetically guided, resulting in the enhanced efficacy of the system.

Nanoscale 11/2010; 3(2):619-29. · 5.91 Impact Factor
Article: Acidic pH-responsive nanogels as smart cargo systems for the simultaneous loading and release of short oligonucleotides and magnetic nanoparticles.

Smriti R Deka, Alessandra Quarta, Riccardo Di Corato, Andrea Falqui, Liberato Manna, Roberto Cingolani, Teresa Pellegrino

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ABSTRACT: Smart materials able to sense environmental stimuli can be exploited as intelligent carrier systems. Acidic pH-responsive polymers, for instance, exhibit a variation in the ionization state upon lowering the pH, which leads to their swelling. The different permeability of these polymers as a function of the pH could be exploited for the incorporation and subsequent release of previously trapped payload molecules/nanoparticles. We provide here a proof of concept of a novel use of pH-responsive polymer nanostructures based on 2-vinylpyridine and divinylbenzene, having an overall size below 200 nm, as cargo system for magnetic nanoparticles, for oligonucleotide sequences, as well as for their simultaneous loading and controlled release mediated by the pH.

Langmuir 03/2010; 26(12):10315-24. · 4.19 Impact Factor