Preparation of new PLGA/PAA nanoparticles for biomedical applications with improved biocompatibility

In the last years, the interest for nano- and micro-structured materials in biology and medicine is enormously increased. In particular, the use of nano- and micro-particles (NPs) for delivery drugs and contrast agents in vivo became attractive, due to their potential applicative use in diagnosis and therapy of widespread diseases such as tumors and neurodegenerative diseases. In spite of this big scientific and economic interest, only a few products based on NPs technologies have come to industrial production and distribution. The partial failure is due to complex reasons, such as the difficulty of designing NPs for biomedical applications with advanced features of biocompatibility, biomimicry and targeting. Only a few of the NPs already existing can be used in vivo, mainly because of their scarce targeting specificity and/or biocompatibility. The aim of our work is the preparation of new nanoparticles for drug delivery to tumors and brain, with improved feature of biocompatibility/biomimicry and targeting specificity, constituted by a core of poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) with a corona of poly(amidoamine) (PAA).