Multifunctional Hybrid Nanoparticles for Traceable Drug Delivery and Intracellular Microenvironment-Controlled Multistage Drug-Release in Neurons.

Innovative nanoparticles hold promising potential for disease therapy as drug delivery systems. For brain-disease therapy, a drug delivery system that can sustainably control drug-release and monitor fluorescence of the drug cargos is highly desirable. In this study, a light-traceable and intracellular microenvironment-responsive drug delivery system was developed based on the combination of glutathione-responsive autoflurescent nanogel, dendrimer-like mesoporous silica nanoparticles, and gold nanoparticles. The resulting hybrid nanoparticles represent a new class of delivery system that can efficiently load, transport, and control multistage-release of sulfydryl-containing drugs into neurons, with light-traceable monitoring for future brain-disease therapy.