BODIPY photocage-based injectable hydrogel for light-controlled nanoparticle release
File(s)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Light-controlled release of therapeutics holds great promise for improving patient compliance with treatment plans against many leading diseases and could contribute to a better quality of life for people suffering from chronic conditions. However, insufficient tissue penetration of light largely limits the in vivo applications of photoresponsive therapeutics. With the aim to circumvent this limitation and to work within tissue depths that are pragmatically accessible to light, we developed an injectable and photodegradable hydrogel that could enable controlled drug delivery in subcutaneous tissue. In this work, we describe a hydrogel formulation consisting of a 2-arm photocage bearing azide and a BCN-terminated 4-arm PEG. Gelation takes place in minutes upon mixing the two components via strain-promoted azide alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC). Both gel precursors are made water-soluble and exhibit low viscosity prior to complete gelation, and the pre-gel is easily injectable through 23G needles. Photocage photocleavage and consequent gel degradation could be precisely controlled with green light irradiation. We further showed that nanoparticles can be successfully encapsulated into the gel and subsequently photo-released. The full operation process was demonstrated in an ex vivo porcine model and the acute biocompatibility of gel injection and degradation was
evaluated in healthy human skin cultured ex vivo.
evaluated in healthy human skin cultured ex vivo.
Date Issued
2026-07-01
Date Acceptance
2026-06-03
Citation
Small, 2026
ISSN
1613-6810
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
Small
Copyright Statement
© 2026 The Author(s). Small published by Wiley-VCH GmbH This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Publication Status
Published online
Article Number
e74162
Date Publish Online
2026-07-01