Fig. 1.

Synthesis and characterization of NLP and NLGs with varying elasticity. a Schematic illustration of nanoliposome–hydrogel complex system. NLP represents nanoliposome encapsulating PBS. Uncrosslinked NLG represents nanoliposome encapsulating uncrosslinked alginate (0 mM CaCl₂). Crosslinked NLG represents nanolipogel encapsulating 1–5 mM CaCl₂ crosslinked alginate. b The internal structure of NLP-45KPa, NLG-1.6MPa, and NLG-19MPa characterized by TEM. Scale bars represent 100 nm. c The Young’s moduli of synthesized NLP and NLGs characterized by AFM. The encapsulation efficiencies of FITC-dextran (d) and siRNA (e) in synthesized NLP and NLGs. f Sustained release profiles of synthesized FITC-dextran encapsulating NLP and NLGs. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. The mean values and error bars are defined as mean and S.D., respectively