Poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) based hydrogels as novel precipitation and stabilization media for solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs)

In this work, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) based chemically cross-linked hydrogels are used as novel precipitation and stabilization media for solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) for the first time. The hydrogels and the hybrid thermoresponsive composite hydrogels with SLNs were characterized by SEM, DSC, DLS and rheometric analysis. The results showed that the SLNs obtained directly in the gel matrix by the newly devised method were well-dispersed and remained stable for one month. A remarkable advantage of this approach is that it yields the thermoresponsive nanocomposite hydrogels in a single step. This approach is a significant advancement in the preparation of hybrid thermoresponsive nanocomposite systems based on smart gels and SLNs for their use in biomedical applications.