CATIONIC SHELL CROSSLINKED NANOPARTICLES AS INTRACELLULAR DELIVERY VEHICLES FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF ACUTE LUNG INJURY

Nanomedicine is a growing field of medicine that seeks to take advantage of nanoscale materials in order to address current challenges such as the ability to cross the epithelial mucus of the lungs to deliver treatment. This thesis focuses on the development of polymer nanomaterials known as shell crosslinked knedel-like (SCK) nanoparticles to serve as intracellular carriers of genetic material and specifically target injured cells in the lung for the treatment of acute lung injury (ALI). SCK nanoparticles are spherical in their morphology and their synthesis allows for them to possess tunable functionalities, size, and physical properties. The research presented in this work includes the synthesis of amphiphilic block copolymers that exhibit cationic character in their hydrophilic segment, in order to facilitate cell transfection in the body. The block copolymer poly(acrylamidoethylamine)130-block-polysterene123 (PAEA-b-PS) underwent subsequent micellization in water and crosslinking across the hydrophilic chains. The resulting SCK nanoparticles were c.a 75 nm in diameter and possessed cationic character. Herein, we report the physical and chemical characteristics of the block copolymers, micelles, and crosslinked nanoparticles. Current efforts for refining the synthetic methods in the production of SCK nanoparticles for the treatment of ALI are described