Cytoskeleton-inspired, adaptive nanolipogels as superlubricating delivery vehicles

Physics > Biological Physics [Submitted on 18 Jun 2026] Title:Cytoskeleton-inspired, adaptive nanolipogels as superlubricating delivery vehicles View PDFAbstract:Phosphatidylcholine liposomes fill a special niche in alleviating osteoarthritis via intra-articular (IA) administration, attributed to their superlubricity at the articular cartilage surface, but their co-utilization as drug delivery vesicles in such therapy remains challenging as they may rupture under mechanical stress. Here, we describe cytoskeleton-inspired, supramolecular, self-assembled nanolipogels (NLGs), encompassing liposome-encased nanogels with a dynamic network formed by hydrogen bonding and cation-pi interactions, as a platform for simultaneous robust drug-delivery and massive reduction of interfacial frictional dissipation. We use a surface force balance to assess such dissipation at the sub-nanometer level, elucidating the mechanism involved, and atomic force microscopy to probe the NLGs structural stability. A useful proxy for the interfacial dissipation is the coefficient of friction, which remains as low as 10-4 at contact pressures at least up to 2 MPa, while under higher pressures exceeding the H-bonding energy density it increases abruptly and irreversibly to the still-low value 10-2. Under sustained sliding above this threshold, however, friction gradually decreases again, indicating recovery of the lubricating interface. Molecular dynamics simulations identify the compressive stress decrease due to hydrogen-bond rupture/rearrangement within the nanogel as a buried supramolecular transition associated with lubrication breakdown and recovery, while cargo release during sliding emphasizes the drug-delivery potential of such NLGs. These findings reveal how supramolecular core-shell reinforcement regulates load-bearing hydration lubrication, and provides a framework for designing adaptive biomimetic lubricants which are at the same time load-bearing intra-articular cargo-delivery vehicles. Current browse context: physics.bio-ph Change to browse by: References & Citations Loading... Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.