Fabrication of dihydroxyflavone-conjugated hyaluronic acid nanogels for targeted antitumoral effect

[Display omitted] •Hyaluronic acid molecules are conjugated among themselves in nanogel form.•Dihydroxyflavones are conjugated to hyaluronic acid nanogels.•A low concentration of a conjugation agent leads to the nanogel size reduction.•The nanogel specifically reduced the viability of tumor cells to approximately 60%. We prepared hyaluronic acid (HA)-based nanogels conjugated with dihydroxyflavone (DHF) and evaluated their cellular uptake and antitumoral efficiency. 4-(4,6-dimethoxy-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)-4-methylmorpholinium chloride (DMTMM) was used as a conjugation agent for esterification between DHF and HA as well as crosslinking among HA. The conjugations were confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, UV/vis spectroscopy, and high-performance liquid chromatography. The size and Zeta-potential of the DHF/HA nanogels were reduced with an increase in the concentration of DMTMM due to the involvement of more HA molecules for the conjugation reactions. The DHF/HA nanogel with a smaller size was greatly taken up by two kinds of tumor cells (HeLa and HepG2), compared to NIH3T3. The cell viabilities were reduced to approximately 60% for HeLa and HepG2 cells after 48 h post treatment with DHF/HA nanogels.