Design and Synthesis of Alginate Hydrogel Nanohybrid as a Promising Cancer Treatment

Alginate hydrogel containing gold nanoparticles has emerged as a promising treatment strategy for cancer due to its unique properties. Gold nanoparticles, due to their high surface area-to-volume ratio, can be easily functionalized with biomolecules and have excellent photothermal and photoacoustic properties, making them ideal for use in cancer therapy. Alginate hydrogel, on the other hand, is a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer that has been extensively investigated for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications. In cancer treatment, alginate hydrogel containing gold nanoparticles can be used as a localized drug delivery system that enables targeted and controlled release of anticancer drugs directly into the tumor site. The gold nanoparticles embedded within the alginate hydrogel can also be activated by near-infrared light, resulting in localized heating and thermal ablation of the tumor cells. Moreover, the alginate hydrogel matrix provides a protective barrier against degradation and oxidation of the gold nanoparticles, thus enhancing their stability and prolonging their circulation time in vivo. In order to optimize and characterize the manufacturing process, several physicochemical techniques such as ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and zeta potential were used. The hybrid biomaterial synthesis was successfully performed and optimized at each step. Making this hybrid hydrogel is a robust and highly reproducible method.

Keywords:

Alginate hydrogel , gold nanoparticles , cancer treatment , drug delivery system , photothermal properties.