We present studies of protein (insulin) efflux rates from nano-sized core-shell systems with a gelled core and a lipid bilayer (nanolipogels). The efflux control mechanism is the manipulation of mesh size, and we show that diffusion control via crosslinking is the dominant mechanism for efflux control. The concept is inspired by the macromolecular crowding effect in human cells, which may be considered as a physical network of undefined mesh size. Our bio-inspired system is made of chemically crosslinked water-swellable poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate cores, whose mesh size can be manipulated to yield a quantifiable crowding effect that then leads to predictable release rates for biomacromolecules.
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