0000000000350304
AUTHOR
Kristin Rausch
showing 4 related works from this author
α-Chymotrypsin-Catalyzed Reaction Confined in Block-Copolymer Vesicles
2010
Herein the reactivity of the enzyme α-chymotrypsin in the confinement of polystyrene-block-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA) vesicles was investigated. Enzyme and substrate molecules were encapsulated in PS-b-PAA vesicles with internal diameters ranging from 26 nm to 165 nm during the formation of the vesicles. While the loading efficiencies of enzyme and substrate molecules were practically identical for vesicles of identical size, they were found to increase with decreasing vesicle size. The kinetics of the α-chymotrypsin catalyzed hydrolysis of N-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Phe-7-amido-4-methylcoumarin (AMC) was evaluated following the increase of the absorption of the product 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin …
Evaluation of nanoparticle aggregation in human blood serum.
2010
In a certain stage of development, the performance of nanoparticle- or polymer-drug conjugates is tested "in vivo", that is, in mice or rats. Besides pharmaceutical and chemical characterization, the structural characterization of such drug carrier systems in terms of size, size distribution, and shape is typically performed in physiological salt solution prior to animal tests. The present work introduces a simple method based on dynamic light scattering to monitor the particle size in blood serum. Utilizing a model system of pegylated poly-l-lysines (PLL-g-PEOx) of various degrees of pegylation, x, it is demonstrated that large aggregates may form in human serum solution that are not obser…
HPMA copolymers as surfactants in the preparation of biocompatible nanoparticles for biomedical application.
2012
In this work we describe the application of amphiphilic N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA)-based copolymers as polymeric surfactants in miniemulsion techniques. HPMA-based copolymers with different ratios of HPMA (hydrophilic) to laurylmethacrylate (LMA; hydrophobic) units were synthesized by RAFT polymerization and postpolymerization modification. The amphiphilic polymers can act as detergents in both the miniemulsion polymerization of styrene and the miniemulsion process in combination with solvent evaporation, which was applied to polystyrene and polylactide. Under optimized conditions, monodisperse colloids can be prepared. The most promising results could be obtained by using the…
A trifunctional dextran-based nanovaccine targets and activates murine dendritic cells, and induces potent cellular and humoral immune responses in v…
2013
Dendritic cells (DCs) constitute an attractive target for specific delivery of nanovaccines for immunotherapeutic applications. Here we tested nano-sized dextran (DEX) particles to serve as a DC-addressing nanocarrier platform. Non-functionalized DEX particles had no immunomodulatory effect on bone marrow (BM)-derived murine DCs in vitro. However, when adsorbed with ovalbumine (OVA), DEX particles were efficiently engulfed by BM-DCs in a mannose receptor-dependent manner. A DEX-based nanovaccine containing OVA and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a DC stimulus induced strong OVA peptide-specific CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell proliferation both in vitro and upon systemic application in mice, as well a…