We report on the preparation and characterization of poly(D, L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microparticles with surface-conjugated polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers of varying generations. The buffering capacity and zeta-potential of the PLGA PAMAM microparticles increased with increasing generation level of the PAMAM dendrimer conjugated. Conjugation of the PAMAM dendrimer to the surface of th...

Dendrimers, with their well-defined globular shape and a high density of functional groups, are ideal nanoscale materials for templating sensor surfaces. This work exploits dendrimers as a versatile platform for capturing biomarkers with improved sensitivity and specificity. Synthesis, characterization, fabrication, and functional validation of the dendrimer-based assay platform are described. ...

Dendritic nanostructures can play a key role in drug delivery, due to the high density and variety of surface functional groups that can facilitate and modulate the delivery process. We have investigated the effect of dendrimer end-functionality on the activity of polyamido amine (PAMAM) dendrimer-methotrexate (MTX) conjugates in MTX-sensitive and MTX-resistant human acute lymphoblastoid leukem...

The synthesis and solubility behaviors of four generation five (G5) triazine dendrimers are studied. While the underivatized cationic dendrimer is soluble in water, the acetylated and propanoylated derivatives undergo coacervation in water upon increasing temperature. Occurring around room temperature, this behavior is related to a liquid-liquid phase transition with a lower critical solution t...

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising treatment methodology whereby diseased cells and tissues are destroyed by reactive oxygen species (ROS) by using a combination of light and photosensitizers (PS). The medical application of Rose Bengal (RB), photosensitizer with very good ROS generation capability, is limited due to its intrinsic toxicity and insufficient lipophilicity. In this report, ...

With the aid of Monte Carlo simulations we investigate the equilibrium behavior of amphiphilic dendrimers, isolated as well as in the vicinity of uncharged planar walls, whereby the coreand shell-monomers constituting the dendrimer interact differently among themselves and with the wall surface. Contrary to the dense-core-forming athermal dendrimers, amphiphilic dendrimers can exhibit the so-ca...

We report our single-molecule fluorescence microscopy and molecular dynamics simulation studies on the interaction of poly(amidoamine) dendrimer and squalane hydrocarbon in aqueous solution. Our spectrophotometry measurements indicate that this interaction increases with the pH of the solvent. Our simulations show that squalane resides primarily on the perimeter of the dendrimer at low to neutr...

Over the last decade, different types of dendrimers have shown anti-inflammatory properties in their own right. In particular, we have shown that poly(phosphorhydrazone) (PPH) dendrimers are able to foster an efficient anti-inflammatory response in human monocytes and can resolve the main physiopathological features of chronic arthritis in mice at 1 mg/kg. Here we afford new insights into the t...

Monodisperse dendrimer-entrapped gold nanoparticles (diameter = 3.0 nm) were prepared using G5 poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer functionalized with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FI) and Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) peptide as template; in vitro targeting efficacy to integrin receptor expressing cells was confirmed by flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, and ICP-MS.

In this project I started studying about dendrimers, their chemistry and their physics. After studying the dendrimer and its mechanism in light harvesting, the focus turned into simulating it. Using Visual Basic’s graphical capabilities, I have designed some programs to simulate the growth of the dendrimers. This will allow the user to easily understand and visualize the characteristics that ma...