| 초록 |
Hydrogel nanoparticles (nanogels) have attracted growing interest in many biomedical applications such as drug delivery, gene delivery and molecular imaging in recent years. Here, we report the synthesis of new hybrid nanoparticles composed of gold and Pluronic tri-block copolymers. The gold-Pluronic nanoparticles were prepared by reduction of gold ions in the presence of thiol-functionalized Pluronic micelles. These nanoparticles exhibited a thermosensitive change in diameter; 53 ± 5 nm at 37 oC and 157 ± 15 nm at 15 oC as determined by DLS. The critical micelle temperature measurement suggested that their reversible swelling-shrinking behavior was attributed to the self-association of Pluronic copolymers. TEM imaging showed that these nanoparticles consisted of Pluronic micellar core covered with gold nanoparticles. These results were further supported by UV-vis, FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy, XRD, FE-SEM and AFM. These gold-Pluronic nanoparticles might have potential application for cancer-targeted X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging and triggered drug release in response to temperature changes. |
