In this work,
doxorubicin (Dox)-encapsulated poly(vinyl
caprolactam) (PVCL)-based three-dimensional
nanogel networks were developed and were crosslinked with
disulfide linkages. The
nanogels degrade rapidly to low molecular weight chains in the presence of the typical intracellular concentration of
glutathione.
Doxorubicin (Dox) was successfully encapsulated into these
nanogels. The
nanogels have a high
drug loading of 49% and can be tailored to 182 nm to deliver themselves to the targeted cells and release Dox under dual stimuli conditions, such as redox and temperature. By evaluating cell viability in the HepG2 cell line, we observed that Dox-loaded
nanogels effectively killed the
cancer cell. Fluorescence microscopy results show that the
nanogels could easily be internalized with HepG2 cells. The results confirm that the
nanogels destabilized in intracellular cytosol via degradation of
disulfide bonds in
nanogels networks and release of the Dox nearby the nucleus. These carriers could be promising for
cancer drug delivery.