Over the past few decades, hydrogel systems using natural polymers have been expansively employed in drug delivery applications. Among the various reported biopolymer-based hydrogel drug delivery systems, pectin (Pec) is an exceptional natural polymer due to its unique functionalities and excellent properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, low-cost, and simple gelling capability, which has received considerable interest in the drug delivery fields. Since there is an increasing need for biomaterials with unique properties for drug delivery applications, in this review, hydrogels fabricated from natural pectin polymers were thoroughly investigated. Additionally, the present mini review aims to bring collectively more concise ways such as sources, extraction, properties, and various forms of Pec based hydrogel drug delivery systems and their toxicity concerns are summarized. Finally, the potential objectives and challenges based on pectin-based hydrogel drug delivery systems are also discussed.

The use of metal nanoparticles (M-NPs) in cancer therapy has gained significant consideration owing to their exceptional physical and chemical features. However, due to the limitations, such as specificity and toxicity towards healthy cells, their application in clinical translations has been restricted. Hyaluronic acid (HA), a biocompatible and biodegradable polysaccharide, has been extensively used as a targeting moiety, due to its ability to selectively bind to the CD44 receptors overexpressed on cancer cells. The HA-modified M-NPs have demonstrated promising results in improving specificity and efficacy in cancer therapy. This review discusses the significance of nanotechnology, the state of cancers, and the functions of HA-modified M-NPs, and other substituents in cancer therapy applications. Additionally, the role of various types of selected noble and non-noble M-NPs used in cancer therapy are described, along with the mechanisms involved in cancer targeting. Additionally, the purpose of HA, its sources and production processes, as well as its chemical and biological properties are described. In-depth explanations are provided about the contemporary applications of HA-modified noble and non-noble M-NPs and other substituents in cancer therapy. Furthermore, potential obstacles in optimizing HA-modified M-NPs, in terms of clinical translations, are discussed, followed by a conclusion and future prospects.

Hierarchical NiCo₂O₄@CuS composite electrodes, synthesized via a hydrothermal method, exhibit superior electrochemical performance as battery-type electrode materials for supercapacitors, outperforming bare NiCo₂O₄.

In this work, doxorubicin (Dox)-encapsulated poly(vinyl caprolactam) (PVCL)-based three-dimensional nanogel networks were developed and were crosslinked with disulfide linkages. The nanogels degrade rapidly to low molecular weight chains in the presence of the typical intracellular concentration of glutathione. Doxorubicin (Dox) was successfully encapsulated into these nanogels. The nanogels have a high drug loading of 49% and can be tailored to 182 nm to deliver themselves to the targeted cells and release Dox under dual stimuli conditions, such as redox and temperature. By evaluating cell viability in the HepG2 cell line, we observed that Dox-loaded nanogels effectively killed the cancer cell. Fluorescence microscopy results show that the nanogels could easily be internalized with HepG2 cells. The results confirm that the nanogels destabilized in intracellular cytosol via degradation of disulfide bonds in nanogels networks and release of the Dox nearby the nucleus. These carriers could be promising for cancer drug delivery.

In this work, we synthesized doxorubicin-loaded fungal-carboxymethyl chitosan (FC) functionalized polydopamine (Dox@FCPDA) nanoparticles for improved anticancer activity via photothermal drug release. The photothermal properties revealed that the FCPDA nanoparticles with a concentration of 400 µg/mL produced a temperature of about 61.1 °C at 2 W/cm² laser illumination, which is more beneficial for cancer cells. Due to the hydrophilic FC biopolymer, the Dox was successfully encapsulated into FCPDA nanoparticles via electrostatic interactions and pi-pi stacking. The maximum drug loading and encapsulation efficiency were calculated to be 19.3% and 80.2%, respectively. The Dox@FCPDA nanoparticles exhibited improved anticancer activity on HePG2 cancer cells when exposed to an NIR laser (800 nm, 2 W/cm²). Furthermore, the Dox@FCPDA nanoparticles also improved cellular uptake with HepG2 cells. Therefore, functionalizing FC biopolymer with PDA nanoparticles is more beneficial for drug and photothermal dual therapeutic properties for cancer therapy.

Hierarchical CuCo₂O₄/CoS nanograss electrodes, synthesized hydrothermally, exhibit superior supercapacitor performance. This is due to increased surface area, enhanced charge transfer, and synergistic effects.