Gellan-Gum Coated Gold Nanorods as Intracellular Drug Release System for Regenerative Medicine

Due to their unique physicochemical properties, gold nanorods (AuNR) have been widely studied for biomedical applications including diagnosis, cell tracking, thermal therapy and drug delivery system (DDS). Their optical properties, their easy of synthesis, their ability to be functionalized with a wide variety of biomolecules and small molecules and their high surface area make them interesting as drug delivery carrier for regenerative medicine. However, to improve their biocompatibility and stability under biological conditions, surface modification needs to be envisaged, while enable the controlled release of drugs/bioactive agents. In this purpose, the coating of gold nanorods within hydrogel as Gellan Gum (GG), a biodegradable and biocompatible natural-based polymers, will allow to increase dramatically the drug payload and fulfill the requirement needed to develop an efficient DDS.