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Lookup NU author(s): Professor John Common
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
© The Author(s) 2025. Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a major chronic inflammatory skin disease that causes itching, redness and irritation. Categorized as the largest skin disability, it poses a substantial financial and social burden on patients. In this study, we report on the synthesis and characterization of arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid (RGD) and hyaluronic acid (HA) conjugated amphiphilic bioactive PLGA brush block copolymer, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-b-poly(ethylene glycol)RGD (PLGA-b-PEGRGD) and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-b-poly(ethylene glycol)HA (PLGA-b-PEGHA), and amphiphilic bioactive PLGA homopolymers, poly[poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol)-RGD] P(PLGA-PEG-RGD) and poly[poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)-poly(ethylene glycol)-HA] P(PLGA-PEGR-HA) via ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). Bioactive PLGA polymer nanoparticles are prepared using a reprecipitation method. The nanoparticles were formulated into gel form using hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) as gelling agent and phosphate buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) as medium for further biocompatibility test. The size and morphology of nanoparticles are determined using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging. The bioactive PLGA nanoparticles loaded gels demonstrated good biocompatibility from ex vivo 3D human skin model studies. In vivo studies using MC-903 induced AD mouse models showed effective inflammation reduction and improved skin barrier repair using our PLGA-RGD nanoparticle loaded gel compared to hydrocortisone as a positive control. We demonstrate here the potential of using these bioactive PLGA nanoparticles for treatment of atopic dermatitis or skin inflammation conditions.© The Author(s) 2025.The fabrication of bioactive polymeric nanoparticles has highlighted using arginylglycylaspartic acid (RGD) and hyaluronic acid (HA) conjugated biodegradable brush polymers via ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) techniques for atopic dermatitis (AD) treatment. The RGD and HA conjugated bioactive polymeric nanoparticles displayed biocompatibility on human skin equivalent models. The RGD conjugated bioactive polymeric nanoparticles showed anti-inflammatory and skin barrier repair properties.
Author(s): Park EJ, Yap BLH, Wang X, Poh QZ, Tan CH, Koh LF, Common JE, Teo P
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Discover Applied Sciences
Year: 2025
Volume: 7
Issue: 4
Online publication date: 04/04/2025
Acceptance date: 05/03/2025
Date deposited: 23/01/2026
ISSN (electronic): 3004-9261
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-025-06688-w
DOI: 10.1007/s42452-025-06688-w
Data Access Statement: All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article. The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information files.
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