Multifaceted chitin/poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid composite nanogels

Cyto-compatible, 80 nm sized chitin/PLGA composite nanogels (chit/PLGA-comp NGs) were prepared by regeneration method and characterized. The multifaceted chit/PLGA-comp NGs were surface modified with Au, Fe3O4, CdTe/ZnTe-QDs and umbelliferone, respectively. 185 nm sized Au-chit/PLGA-comp NGs, 170 nm sized QD-chit/PLGA-comp-NGs and 160 nm sized Fe3O4-chit/PLGA-comp-NGs showed RF heating. The QD-chit/PLGA-comp-NGs and 180 nm sized umb-chit/PLGA-comp-NGs were well uptaken by Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. The chit/PLGA-comp NGs could be useful for microbial monitoring and RF application for cancer therapy. The preliminary data showed that multifaceted chit/PLGA-comp-NGs could be useful for hyperthermia for cancer treatment and microbial labelling and imaging. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.