TY - JOUR A1 - Bertz, Andreas A1 - Wöhl-Bruhn, Stefanie A1 - Miethe, Sebastian A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Koetz, Joachim A1 - Hust, Michael A1 - Bunjes, Heike A1 - Menzel, Henning T1 - Encapsulation of proteins in hydrogel carrier systems for controlled drug delivery influence of network structure and drug size on release rate JF - Journal of biotechnology N2 - Novel hydrogels based on hydroxyethyl starch modified with polyethylene glycol methacrylate (HES-P(EG)(6)MA) were developed as delivery system for the controlled release of proteins. Since the drug release behavior is supposed to be related to the pore structure of the hydrogel network the pore sizes were determined by cryo-SEM, which is a mild technique for imaging on a nanometer scale. The results showed a decreasing pore size and an increase in pore homogeneity with increasing polymer concentration. Furthermore, the mesh sizes of the hydrogels were calculated based on swelling data. Pore and mesh size were significantly different which indicates that both structures are present in the hydrogel. The resulting structural model was correlated with release data for bulk hydrogel cylinders loaded with FITC-dextran and hydrogel microspheres loaded with FITC-IgG and FITC-dextran of different molecular size. The initial release depended much on the relation between hydrodynamic diameter and pore size while the long term release of the incorporated substances was predominantly controlled by degradation of the network of the much smaller meshes. KW - Hydrogel KW - Hydrogel microspheres KW - Network structure KW - Release studies KW - Protein delivery KW - Mesh size Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2012.06.036 SN - 0168-1656 VL - 163 IS - 2 SP - 243 EP - 249 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schulze, Nicole A1 - Appelhans, D. A1 - Tiersch, Brigitte A1 - Koetz, Joachim T1 - Morphological transformation of vesicles into tubular structures by adding polyampholytes or dendritic glycopolymers JF - Colloids and surfaces : an international journal devoted to the principles and applications of colloid and interface science ; A, Physicochemical and engineering aspects N2 - For the first time tubulating properties of spherical dendritic glycopolymers and linear alternating polyampholytes against non-uniform negatively charged giant vesicles are proven by light microscopy and cryo-scanning electron microscopy study. Real time observation of the morphological transformation from giant vesicles to tubular structures, simulating morphogenesis in living cells, is given by using the cationic and H-bond active dendritic glycopolymer accompanied by reducing the size of the giant vesicles and the evidence of vesicle-vesicle interaction which was only postulated in a previous study. Similar morphogenesis of non-uniform giant vesicles into tubular network structure can be observed by using a polyampholyte in the stretched conformation at pH 9. Pearl necklace and tubular network structure formation are also observed by applying anionic vesicles of significant smaller dimensions with average size dimensions of 35 nm, after adding the polyampholyte at pH 9. However, the fitting accuracy between the functional groups along the backbone chain of the polyampholyte on one side and the vesicle surface on the other side is of high importance for the transformation process by using polyampholytes. The resulting tubular and network structures offer new fields of application as microfluidic transport channels or template phases for the shape controlled formation of nanoparticles. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Alternating polyampholytes KW - Maltose-modified PEI KW - Network structure KW - Template phase KW - Cryo-SEM KW - DLS Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2014.06.007 SN - 0927-7757 SN - 1873-4359 VL - 457 SP - 326 EP - 332 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -