Self-assembly of hydrophobically modified hyaluronic acid

Abstract

The understanding how physicochemical properties of amphiphilic molecules influence the self-assembly process is crucial to control their final nanostructure. Furthermore, the relationship between the supramolecular structure and functional properties is of utmost importance for effective design towards specific applications.The hydrophobically modified hyaluronic acid was investigated as a representative of semi-flexible amphiphilic polyelectrolyte with the tremendous biomedical potential. The essential physicochemical characteristics were extracted from the interplay of multiple techniques such as rheology, fluorescence, dynamic light scattering, surface tension, and small-angle X-ray scattering.The correlation of used techniques allowed us to determine the size of hydrophobic domains and showed that aggregate size decrease with increasing chain flexibility. Furthermore, the ratio between the size of aggregates and hydrophobic domains was found to be crucial for curcumin loading efficiency and in vitro skin penetration. Moreover, critical aggregation concentration was determined using various techniques. However, aggregates were found below these concentrations. The rheological characterization identified different dynamical regimes that can define the preparation and application concentration range. The acquired supramolecular structure-property function provides valuable information for the design of self-assembled nanostructures.