Lingzhi or reishi mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum, is a medicinal mushroom quite widely developed as herbal medicine because it has acted as an anticancer, antitumor, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory. The active mycochemical compounds of G. lucidum mushrooms, such as flavonoids and polysaccharides, can suppress the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and prevent lipid peroxidation due to oxidative stress. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease where the exact cause is unknown, and RA prevalence continues to increase yearly. In patients with RA, joint damage and inflammation occur. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of G. lucidum nanogels as anti-arthritis, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidative. The research method was a true experiment using a control group and treatment group that randomly assigned, using 24 male Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus) induced with complete Freund\'s adjuvant (CFA) 0.1 mL. The rats were divided into six groups; healthy control/HCt (did not receive the treatment), negative control/NCt (induced by CFA), and positive control/PCt (given 0.012 diclofenac sodium). TG1 (given 250 mg G. lucidum nanogels), TG2 (given 500 mg G. lucidum nanogels), TG3 (given 750 mg G. lucidum nanogels). IgG, eNOS, IL-1β, COX-2, NOS, TNF-α, and IL-6 parameters were measured using ELISA, and the data obtained were analyzed by one-way ANOVA using SPSS (P < 0.05). The results showed that administering G. lucidum nanogels significantly reduced IgG, NOS, TNF-α, COX-2, IL-1β, and IL-6 and increased eNOS levels. The anti-inflammatory and antioxidative activities in suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokines and increasing eNOS levels prove that the nanogel extract G. lucidum have the potential to be developed as anti-arthritis natural therapeutic.

Nanogels offer hope for precise drug delivery, while addressing drug delivery hurdles is vital for effective prostate cancer (PCa) management. We developed an injectable elastin nanogels (ENG) for efficient drug delivery system to overcome castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) by delivering Decursin, a small molecule inhibitor that blocks Wnt/βcatenin pathways for PCa. The ENG exhibited favourable characteristics such as biocompatibility, flexibility, and low toxicity. In this study, size, shape, surface charge, chemical composition, thermal stability, and other properties of ENG were used to confirm the successful synthesis and incorporation of Decursin (DEC) into elastin nanogels (ENG) for prostate cancer therapy. In vitro studies demonstrated sustained release of DEC from the ENG over 120 h, with a pH-dependent release pattern. DU145 cell line induces moderate cytotoxicity of DEC-ENG indicates that nanomedicine has an impact on cell viability and helps strike a balance between therapeutics efficacy and safety while the EPR effect enables targeted drug delivery to prostate tumor sites compared to free DEC. Morphological analysis further supported the effectiveness of DEC-ENG in inducing cell death. Overall, these findings highlight the promising role of ENG-encapsulated decursin as a targeted drug delivery system for CRPC.

This study aimed to develop and optimize karanjin-loaded ethosomal nanogel formulation and evaluate its efficacy in alleviating symptoms of psoriasis in an animal model induced by imiquimod. These karanjin-loaded ethosomal nanogel, were formulated to enhance drug penetration into the skin and its epidermal retention. Karanjin was taken to formulate ethosomes due to its potential ani-psoriatic activity. Ethosomes were formulated using the cold method using 32full factorial designs to optimize the formulation components. 9 batches were prepared using two independent variablesX1: concentration of ethanol andX2: concentration of phospholipid whereas vesicle size (Y1) and percentage entrapment efficiency (Y2) were selected as dependent variables. All the dependent variables were found to be statistically significant. The optimized ethosomal suspension (B3) exhibited a vesicle size of 334 ± 2.89 nm with an entrapment efficiency of 94.88 ± 1.24% and showed good stability. The morphology of vesicles appeared spherical with smooth surfaces through transmission electron microscopy analysis. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that the drug existed in an amorphous state within the ethosomal formulation. The optimized ethosome was incorporated into carbopol 934 to develop nanogel for easy application on the skin. The nanogel underwent characterization for various parameters including spreadability, viscosity, pH, extrudability, and percentage drug content. The ethosomal formulation remarkably enhanced the skin permeation of karanjin and increased epidermal retention of the drug in psoriatic skin compared to marketed preparation and pure drug. A skin retention study showed that ethosomal nanogel formulation has 48.33% epidermal retention in 6 h.In vivo,the anti-psoriatic activity of karanjin ethosomal nanogel demonstrated significant improvement in psoriasis, indicated by a gradual decrease in skin thickness and scaling as reflected in the Psoriasis Severity Index grading. Therefore, the prepared ethosomal nanogel is a potential vehicle for improved topical delivery of karanjin for better treatment of psoriasis.

Nanogels are aqueous dispersions of hydrogel particles formed by physically or chemically cross-linked polymer networks of nanoscale size. Herein, we devised a straightforward technique to fabricate a novel class of physically cross-linked nanogels via a self-assembly process in water involving α-cyclodextrin and a mannose molecule that was hydrophobically modified using an alkyl chain. The alkyl chain-modified mannose was synthesized in five steps, starting with D-mannose. Subsequently, nanogels were formed by subjecting α-cyclodextrin and the hydrophobically modified mannose to magnetic stirring in water. By adjusting the mole ratio between the hydrophobically modified mannose and α-cyclodextrin, nanogels with an average 100-150 nm diameter were obtained. Physicochemical and structural analyses by 1H NMR and X-ray diffraction unveiled a supramolecular and hierarchical mechanism underlying the creation of these nanogels. The proposed mechanism of nanogel formation involves two distinct steps: initial interaction of hydrophobically modified mannose with α-cyclodextrin resulting in the formation of inclusion complexes, followed by supramolecular interactions among these complexes, ultimately leading to nanogel formation after 72 h of stirring. We demonstrated the nanogels\' ability to encapsulate a short peptide ([p-tBuF2, R5]SHf) as a water-soluble drug model. This discovery holds promise for potentially utilizing these nanogels in drug delivery applications.

UNASSIGNED: Polymer nanogels are among the most promising nanoplatforms for use in biomedical applications. The substantial interest for these drug carriers is to enhance the transportation of bioactive substances, reduce the side effects, and achieve optimal action on the curative sites by targeting delivery and triggering the release of the drugs in a controlled and continuous mode.
UNASSIGNED: The review discusses the opportunities, applications, and challenges of synthetic polypeptide nanogels in biomedicine, with an emphasis on the recent progress in cancer therapy. It is evidenced by the development of polypeptide nanogels for better controlled drug delivery and release, in complex in vivo microenvironments in biomedical applications.
UNASSIGNED: Polypeptide nanogels can be developed by choosing the amino acids from the peptide structure that are suitable for the type of application. Using a stimulus - sensitive peptide nanogel, it is possible to obtain the appropriate transport and release of the drug, as well as to achieve desirable therapeutic effects, including safety, specificity, and efficiency. The final system represents an innovative way for local and sustained drug delivery at a specific site of the body.

Nanozymes have recently become a research hotspot because of the advantages of good stability, excellent catalytic performance and easy storage in comparison to natural enzymes. Nanozymes with oxidase-like activity get special attention because they needn\'t the participation of hydrogen peroxide. In this paper, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) nanogel with oxidase-like activity was synthesized for the first time. The catalytic mechanism was explored by EPR and UV spectroscopy after adding specific trapping agents of ROS, and the results showed that PNIPAM NG can catalyze O2 to 1O2. In the presence of PNIPAM NG, o-phenylenediamine (OPD) and ascorbic acid (AA) can be oxidized to 2,3-diaminophenazine (oxOPD) and dehydroascorbic acid (DHA), and DHA can further react with OPD to produce a fluorescence substance. The colorimetric and fluorescence detection platforms for AA were constructed based on the above principles. Both platforms have satisfactory results in real samples. The fluorescence platform has better sensitivity and selectivity than the colorimetric platform.

Polysaccharide-based nanogels offer a wide range of chemical compositions and are of great interest due to their biodegradability, biocompatibility, non-toxicity, and their ability to display pH, temperature, or enzymatic response. In this work, we synthesized monodisperse and tunable pH-sensitive nanogels by crosslinking, through reductive amination, chitosan and partially oxidized maltodextrins, by keeping the concentration of chitosan around the overlap concentration, i.e. in the dilute and semi-dilute regime. The chitosan/maltodextrin nanogels presented sizes ranging from 63 ± 9 to 279 ± 16 nm, showed quasi-spherical and cauliflower-like morphology, reached a ζ-potential of +36 ± 2 mV and maintained a colloidal stability for up to 7 weeks. It was found that the size and surface charge of nanogels depended both on the oxidation degree of maltodextrins and chitosan concentration, as well as on its degree of acetylation and protonation, the latter tuned by pH. The pH-responsiveness of the nanogels was evidenced by an increased size, owed to swelling, and ζ-potential when pH was lowered. Finally, maltodextrin-chitosan biocompatible nanogels were assessed by cell viability assay performed using the HEK293T cell line.

Periodontal disease affects supporting dental structures and ranks among one of the top most expensive conditions to treat in the world. Moreover, in recent years, the disease has also been linked to cardiovascular and Alzheimer\'s diseases. At present, there is a serious lack of accurate diagnostic tools to identify people at severe risk of periodontal disease progression. Porphyromonas gingivalis is often considered one of the most contributing factors towards disease progression. It produces the Arg- and Lys-specific proteases Rgp and Kgp, respectively. Within this work, a short epitope sequence of these proteases is immobilised onto a magnetic nanoparticle platform. These are then used as a template to produce high-affinity, selective molecularly imprinted nanogels, using the common monomers N-tert-butylacrylamide (TBAM), N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAM), and N-(3-aminopropyl) methacrylamide hydrochloride (APMA). N,N-Methylene bis(acrylamide) (BIS) was used as a crosslinking monomer to form the interconnected polymeric network. The produced nanogels were immobilised onto a planar gold surface and characterised using the optical technique of surface plasmon resonance. They showed high selectivity and affinity towards their template, with affinity constants of 79.4 and 89.7 nM for the Rgp and Kgp epitope nanogels, respectively. From their calibration curves, the theoretical limit of detection was determined to be 1.27 nM for the Rgp nanogels and 2.00 nM for the Kgp nanogels. Furthermore, they also showed excellent selectivity against bacterial culture supernatants E8 (Rgp knockout), K1A (Kgp knockout), and W50-d (wild-type) strains in complex medium of brain heart infusion (BHI).

UNASSIGNED: To improve the bioavailability of trans-resveratrol (trans-Res), it is commonly co-delivered with antioxidant bioactives using a complex synthetic intestinal targeted carrier, however, which makes practical application challenging.
UNASSIGNED: A nanogel (Ngel), as broad-spectrum autonomous ROS scavenger, was prepared using selenized thiolated sodium alginate (TSA-Se) and crosslinked with calcium lactate (CL) for loading trans-Res to obtain Ngel@Res, which maintained spherical morphology in the upper digestive tract but broke down in the lower digestive tract, resulting in trans-Res release.
UNASSIGNED: Under protection of Ngel, trans-Res showed enhanced stability and broad-spectrum ROS scavenging activity. The synergistic mucoadhesion of Ngel prolonged the retention time of trans-Res in the intestine. Ngel and Ngel@Res increased the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans to 26.00 ± 2.17 and 26.00 ± 4.27 days by enhancing the activity of antioxidases, upregulating the expression of daf-16, sod-5 and skn-1, while downregulating the expression of daf-2 and age-1.
UNASSIGNED: This readily available, intestinal targeted selenized alginate-based nanogel effectively improves the bioactivity of trans-Res.

The future of drug delivery offers immense potential for the creation of nanoplatforms based on nanogels. Nanogels present a significant possibility for pharmaceutical advancements because of their excellent stability and effective drug-loading capability for both hydrophobic and hydrophilic agents. As multifunctional systems, composite nanogels demonstrate the capacity to carry genes, drugs, and diagnostic agents while offering a perfect platform for theranostic multimodal applications. Nanogels can achieve diverse responsiveness and enable the stimuli-responsive release of chemo-/immunotherapy drugs and thus reprogramming cells within the TME in order to inhibit tumor proliferation, progression, and metastasis. In order to achieve active targeting and boost drug accumulation at target sites, particular ligands can be added to nanogels to improve the therapeutic outcomes and enhance the precision of cancer therapy. Modern \"immune-specific\" nanogels also have extra sophisticated tumor tissue-editing properties. Consequently, the introduction of a multifunctional nanogel-based drug delivery system improves the targeted distribution of immunotherapy drugs and combinational therapeutic treatments, thereby increasing the effectiveness of tumor therapy.