Dextran-Based Nanoparticles to Formulate pH-Responsive Pickering Emulsions: A Fully Degradable Vector at a Day Scale

Valentin Maingret (1, 2) , Clémence Courrégelongue (1, 2) , Véronique Schmitt (1) , Valérie Héroguez (2)

1 CRPP - Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal
2 LCPO - Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères Organiques

Biosourced Pickering emulsion stabilizers with stimuli responsiveness are mostly designed for recycling and do not offer fast degradability as required for drug-delivery applications. Herein, dextran-a hydrophilic and biofriendly polysaccharide obtainable from biomass recovery-was used for the first time as a brick material for the formulation of (bio)degradable pH-sensitive Pickering emulsions. It was first modified with hydrophobic acetals moieties to provide pH-sensitive acetalated dextran. Under acidic conditions, it degrades into three biocompatible (macro)molecules: dextran, ethanol and acetone. Nanoparticles of acetalated-dextran were obtained using the nanoprecipitation process and could be similarly fully hydrolyzed under acidic conditions within 6 h. Then, O/W Pickering emulsions of dodecane (model oil) and medium-chain triglyceride (biocompatible oil) were successfully stabilized using these nanoparticles. pH-induced destabilization of these Pickering emulsions (including nanoparticles degradation) took less than 24 h. Finally, neither accumulation of nanoparticles nor harmful components release happened during the process, making this stimuliresponsive vector safe and environmentally friendly.

Mots clés: modified polysaccharide; stimuli-responsive; Pickering emulsions; bio-friendly vector; biocompatible systems; nanoprecipitation

Domaines: Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]; Matériaux

Valentin Maingret, Clémence Courrégelongue, Véronique Schmitt, Valérie Héroguez. Dextran-Based Nanoparticles to Formulate pH-Responsive Pickering Emulsions: A Fully Degradable Vector at a Day Scale. Biomacromolecules, 2020, 21 (12), pp.5358-5368. ⟨10.1021/acs.biomac.0c01489⟩. ⟨hal-03103695⟩