pH- and ligand-induced release of loads from DNA–acrylamide hydrogel microcapsules

Herein, a method to construct stimuli-responsive DNA–acrylamide-based hydrogel microcapsules has been presented. This method involves the use of polyacrylamide chains modified with predesigned nucleic acid hairpin units and optionally single-strand tethers that provide the required hybridization and recognition functions to yield substrate-loaded stimuli-responsive hydrogel-based microcapsules. The synthesis of the microcapsules involves the loading of CaCO(3) microparticles with the respective load substrates and the functionalization of the CaCO(3) template particles with nucleic acid promoter units. In the presence of the hairpin-modified acrylamide chains, the promoter units induce the hybridization chain reaction (HCR), which leads to the formation of a hydrogel coating, which, after the dissociation of the CaCO(3) cores, yields substrate-loaded stimuli-responsive hydrogel microcapsules. One of the microcapsule systems includes, in the hairpin-modified acrylamide constructs, and in the subsequent HCR-generated hydrogel shells, the caged sequences of anti-ATP or anti-cocaine aptamers. In the presence of ATP or cocaine, the duplex-caged aptamer sequences are separated via the formation of ATP- or cocaine–aptamer complexes, which results in the partial separation of the microcapsules and the release of the loads. The second type of microcapsule is cooperatively stabilized by bridges generated by HCR and pH-sensitive duplex units. Under acidic conditions, the pH-sensitive bridges dissociate via the formation of i-motif structures, which results in an increase in the fluidity of the microcapsule shells and the release of the loads. Preliminary studies indicate that ATP- or pH-responsive microcapsules loaded with the anticancer drug, doxorubicin, have a selective cytotoxic effect on MDA-MB-231 cancer cells.