Temperature and pH-Sensitive Polymers with Hydrophobic Spacers for the Controlled Delivery of Drugs

Summary: Acid methacrylates containing hydrophobic aliphatic and aromatic spacers were used to prepare pH-sensitive ampholytic hydrogels and bidimensional temperature- (T) and pH-sensitive hydrogels. Their swelling behaviour was studied by changing the pH and temperature of buffer solutions. Salicylamide, salicylic acid and green fluorescent protein (GFP) as model drugs were loaded into the gels and their release kinetics studied under simulated gastric and intestinal conditions. T- and pH-sensitive hydrogels containing aliphatic spacers show sustained release of analgesics depending on pH (e.g. 7.4); while longer aliphatic spacers resulted in drug release depending on pH and temperature (T < transition T). GFP was released from temperature- and pH-sensitive ampholytic hydrogels after different lag times depending on hydrogel composition.     

Amino Acid Based Hydrogels with Dual Responsiveness for Oral Drug Delivery

This study reports a series of novel amino acid based dual‐responsive hydrogels. Prepared by a facile one‐pot 1‐ethyl‐3‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDC) coupling reaction, the solid content, structure, and mechanical behavior of hydrogels could be easily adjusted by changing the concentrations of the polymers and the crosslinkers. With pH‐responsive anionic pseudo‐peptides as backbones and disulfide‐containing l ‐cystine dimethyl ester as crosslinkers, these hydrogels are able to collapse and form relatively compact structure at an acidic pH, while swelled and partly dissociated at a neutral pH. Further addition of dithiothreitol (DTT) facilitated complete degradation of hydrogels. The high loading efficiency, rapid but complete triggered‐release, and good biocompatibility make these hydrogels promising candidates for oral delivery.

     

A pH-Sensitive Hydrogel with Hydrophobic Association for Controlled Release of Poorly Water-Soluble Drugs

A novel pH-sensitive hydrogel has been developed by UV induced radical polymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and amphiphilic macromonomer polyethylene glycol monolaurylether monoacrylate (PEGLA) with crosslinker ethylene glycol dimethacrylate for controlled release of acyclovir, a poor water-soluble model drug. The swelling behavior was investigated in the buffer of different pH at I = 0.1 M, as well as in the ethanol/water mixture. The hydrophobic association formed by the hydrocarbon chains in PEGLA was found to dominate the swelling properties of the hydrogels with subordinate pH sensitivity due to the ionization of the AA segments. Therefore, the drug loading of acyclovir has been improved and the release rate of acyclovir was slowed down with increasing the PEGLA content in the hydrogels. By fitting the release data with Weibull equation, the acyclovir release kinetics was changed from the Fickian diffusion to an anomalous diffusion when the PEGLA content in the hydrogels was beyond 20 mol%.     

Novel Hydrogels for Rhythmic Pulsatile Drug Delivery

Summary: We are investigating an autonomous glucose-driven hydrogel/enzyme-based device prototype for rhythmic, pulsed delivery of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH). The device employs a pH-sensitive hydrogel membrane in conjunction with the enzyme glucose oxidase. This system delivers GnRH in rhythmic pulses when exposed to a constant level of glucose. These pulses result from autonomous pH oscillations inside the device that are created by an unstable nonlinear feedback between hydrogel permeability to glucose and production of acid by glucose oxidase. Previous versions of this prototype utilized p(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-methylacrylic acid) p(NIPA-co-MAA) hydrogels, with 10 mol% MAA incorporated. With this membrane, which undergoes a volume transition (VT) near pH 5, pH oscillations centered around pH 5 are observed. This range is too low to sustain oscillations in physiologically buffered media. To shift the operating pH of oscillations closer to physiologic pH, we have sought ways to increase the pH of the volume transition. In this study we show that increasing the side chain length of the α-alkylacrylic acid (RAA) comonomer enhances the overall hydrophobicity of the copolymer, and shifts the VT pH closer to physiological pH values. We also demonstrate the ability of such membranes to affect an alkaline shift in the range of oscillations in the prototype oscillator device.     

pH快速响应PNIPAAm-co-PAAc水凝胶的制备及溶胀动力学

pH快速响应PNIPAAm-co-PAAc水凝胶的制备及溶胀动力学;N-异丙基丙烯酰胺;pH敏感性;溶胀历史     

Budesonide-Loaded Pectin/Polyacrylamide Hydrogel for Sustained Delivery: Fabrication,Characterization and In Vitro Release Kinetics

A single ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes inflammation of the colonic mucosa at the distal colon and rectum. The mainstay therapy involves anti-inflammatory immunosuppression based on the disease location and severity. The disadvantages of using systemic corticosteroids for UC treatment is the amplified risk of malignancies and infections. Therefore, topical treatments are safer as they have fewer systemic side effects due to less systemic exposure. In this context, pH sensitive and enzymatically triggered hydrogel of pectin (PC) and polyacrylamide (PAM) has been developed to facilitate colon-targeted delivery of budesonide (BUD) for the treatment of UC. The hydrogels were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), swelling ratio, and drug release. FT-IR spectroscopy confirmed the grafting as well loading of BUD in hydrogel. XRD showed the amorphous nature of hydrogel and increment in crystallinity after drug loading. On the other hand, SEM showed that the hydrogels exhibited a highly porous morphology, which is suitable for drug loading and also demonstrated a pH-responsive swelling behaviour, with decreased swelling in acidic media. The in-vitro release of BUD from the hydrogel exhibited a sustained release behaviour with non-ficken diffusion mechanism. The model that fitted best for BUD released was the Higuchi kinetic model. It was concluded that enzyme/pH dual-sensitive hydrogels are an effective colon-targeted delivery system for UC.     

药物在pH敏感聚甲基丙烯酸-poloxamer水凝胶中的扩散行为

平衡溶胀率;药物扩散;药物在pH敏感聚甲基丙烯酸-poloxamer水凝胶中的扩散行为     

Polymeric Lids for Microcontainers for Oral Protein Delivery

Oral delivery of proteins and peptides is one of the main challenges in pharmaceutical drug development. Microdevices have the possibility to protect the therapeutics until release is desired, avoiding losses by degradation. One type of microdevice is polymeric microcontainers. In this study, lysozyme is chosen as model protein and loaded into microcontainers with the permeation enhancer sodium decanoate (C10). The loaded microcontainers are sealed and functionalized by applying polymeric lids onto the cavity of the devices. The first lid is poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic) acid (PLGA) and on top of this either polyethylene glycol (PEG) or chitosan is applied (PLGA+PEG or PLGA+chitosan, respectively). The functionalization is evaluated in vitro for morphology, drug release, and mucoadhesive properties. These are coupled with in vitro and ex vivo studies using Caco‐2 cells, Caco‐2/HT29‐MTX‐E12 co‐cultures, and porcine intestinal tissue. PLGA+chitosan shows slower release compared to PLGA+PEG or only PLGA in buffer and the transport of lysozyme across cell cultures is not enhanced compared to the bulk powder. Microcontainers coated with chitosan or PEG demonstrate a three times stronger adhesion during ex vivo mucoadhesion studies compared to samples without coatings. Altogether, functionalized microcontainers with mucoadhesive properties and tunable release for oral protein delivery are developed and characterized.     

Cellular Evaluation of Synthesized Insulin/Transferrin Bioconjugates for Oral Insulin Delivery Using Intelligent Complexation Hydrogels

Insulin transport across the epithelial cell layer in the small intestine was studied using insulin/transferrin conjugates with and without the presence of P(MAA‐g‐EG) microparticles in contact with a co‐culture of Caco‐2/HT29‐MTX cells. The insulin/transferrin conjugate was shown to increase transport relative to pure insulin by a factor of 7, achieving an apparent permeability of 37 × 10⁹ cm · s^?1. The presence of P(MAA‐g‐EG) microparticles increased conjugate transport by a factor of 14 times relative to insulin, achieving an apparent permeability of 72.8 × 10⁹ cm · s^?1. The presence of the microparticles in solution was found to improve conjugate transport by nearly 100% with little to no change in cell monolayer integrity.

     

Tunable Amphiphilic Poly(Ether-Anhydride) Gel Nanoparticles for the Delivery of Hydrophobic Drugs

Summary: Biodegradable amphiphilic poly(ether-anhydride) gel nanoparticles (GNPs) with a hydrophobic crosslinked core and a hydrophilic PEG shell have been prepared from amphiphilic photo-crosslinkable ether-anhydride macromers via microemulsion photo-polymerization. The properties of the GNPs, such as degradability, size and drug-loading capacity, were investigated by tailoring the length of PEG chains in macromers from 400 to 4000 and by the addition of a hydrophobic photo-crosslinkable monomer: stearic monoacrylic anhydride (MSA). TEM showed that the GNPs were spherical in shape with a core-shell structure when MSA was added. The GNPs were used as the carriers to enhance the solubility of hydrophobic drugs. Indomethacin (IND) as a model drug was entrapped in the hydrophobic crosslinked core by an in situ embedding method. Results showed that IND maintained chemically intact during the formulation process, and its dissolution rate were improved compared to those of the pure IND. The GNPs prepared from PEG macromer (molecular weight: 4000) with the addition of MSA exhibited the zero-order release behavior, which is potentially useful to control the release of hydrophobic drugs.     

pH-Sensitive Glycyrrhizin Based Vesicles for Nifedipine Delivery

Glycyrrhizic acid, or glycyrrhizin (GA), a major active component of licorice root, has been widely used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine since ancient times. However, only in the last decades has a novel and unusual property of the GA been discovered to form water-soluble, supramolecular complexes with a variety of lipophilic drugs. These complexes show significant advantages over other known delivery systems, in particular, due to strong pH sensitivity, the properties of GA self-associates. In the present study, a supramolecular complex formation of the hypotensive and antiarrhythmic drug nifedipine with GA has been studied at different pH values, corresponding to the different degrees of GA dissociation, including a fully dissociated state of GA. Both NMR experiments and molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate the existence of the nifedipine complex with GA at all dissociation states of GA. However, optical absorption experiments show the decrease of complex stability and solubility at pH > 6 when the GA molecule is fully deprotonated. It means the higher release rate of the drug in a neutral and basic environment compared with acid media. These results could form the basis of follow-up studies of GA self-associates as pH-controlled drug delivery systems.     

HPAN/SPI水凝胶纤维的PH刺激响应性能

探索了聚丙烯腈(PAN)和大豆分离蛋白(SPI)在NaOH水溶液中进行PAN碱解,然后挤到凝固浴中凝固、交联,制备水解聚丙烯腈(HPAN)／SPI水凝胶纤维的方法。通过测定凝胶纤维的平衡溶胀伸长率和溶胀伸长率,观察到HPAN／SPI水凝胶纤维的滞后和可逆的伸长／收缩行为,同时在不同组成的凝胶纤维中,随着PAN含量的逐渐增大,水凝胶纤维的响应速率呈现由小到大然后减小的变化规律,当mPAN／mspt=6／4时有最好的响应性能。     

Reinforced Supramolecular Hydrogels from Attapulgite and Cyclodextrin Pseudopolyrotaxane for Sustained Intra‐Articular Drug Delivery

Injectable hydrogels for nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs’ (NSAIDs) delivery to minimize the side effects of NSAIDs and achieve long‐term sustained release at the targeted site of synovial joint are attractive for osteoarthritis therapy, but how to improve its mechanical strength remains a challenge. In this work, a kind of 1D natural clay mineral material, attapulgite (ATP), is introduced to a classical cyclodextrin pseudopolyrotaxane (PPR) system to form a reinforced supramolecular hydrogel for sustained release of diclofenac sodium (DS) due to its rigid, rod‐like morphology, and unique structure, which has great potential in tissue regeneration, repair, and engineering. Investigation on the interior morphology and rheological property of the obtained hydrogel points out that the ATP distributed in PPR hydrogel plays a role similar to the “reinforcement in concrete” and exhibits a positive effect on improving the mechanical properties of PPR hydrogel by regulating their interior morphology from a randomly distributed style to the well‐ordered porous frame structure. The hybrid hydrogels demonstrate good shear‐thinning and thixotropic properties, excellent biocompability, and sustained release behavior both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, preliminary in vivo treatment in an acute inflammatory rat model reveals that the ATP hybrid hydrogels present sustained anti‐inflammatory effect.     

Achieving High Drug Loading and Sustained Release of Hydrophobic Drugs in Hydrogels through In Situ Crystallization

Inadequate drug loading of hydrophobic drugs is a classic problem when hydrogels are utilized as sustained‐release carriers of drugs. Herein, a strategy to load plenty of hydrophobic drugs is presented. The antitumor drug 10‐hydroxycamptothecin in the thermogel of poly(d ,l ‐lactic acid‐co‐glycolic acid)‐b‐poly(ethylene glycol)‐b‐poly(d ,l ‐lactic acid‐co‐glycolic acid) is employed. The drug is soluble in an alkaline medium, yet insoluble in a neutral/acidic medium. The crystallization is triggered after adding an alkaline drug solution into an acidic copolymer solution. The concentrated copolymer aqueous solution undergoes a sol–gel transition upon heating, faster than the crystallization. As a result, plenty of evenly dispersed drug microcrystals are formed. The in vitro and in vivo experiments indicate both high drug loading and sustained release with enhanced antitumor efficacy and reduced adverse effects. The system resolves the challenge in formulation of hydrophobic drugs in hydrogels, and is stimulating for encapsulating drugs with a soluble‐insoluble transition into a material environment.

     

pH-Sensitive liposomes with embedded ampholytic derivatives of cholan-24-oic acid

Stimulus-sensitive liposomes have been prepared from zwitterionic dioleoylphosphocholine and ampholytic molecular switches with carboxylic anionic groups and the triazole or isobutylamino cationic ones attached to the opposite ends of the steroid core. When the pH of outer solution was altered from slightly alkaline to slightly acidic, the switches changed their orientation in the liposomal membrane, which induced temporal defects formation and the release of a drug model load. The low-toxic pH-sensitive isobutylamino derivative–dioleoylphosphocholine liposomes demonstrated fast cargo release.     

Near‐Infrared‐Controlled,Targeted Hydrophobic Drug‐Delivery System for Synergistic Cancer Therapy

Hydrophobicity has been an obstacle that hinders the use of many anticancer drugs. A critical challenge for cancer therapy concerns the limited availability of effective biocompatible delivery systems for most hydrophobic therapeutic anticancer drugs. In this study, we have developed a targeted near‐infrared (NIR)‐regulated hydrophobic drug‐delivery platform based on gold nanorods incorporated within a mesoporous silica framework (AuMPs). Upon application of NIR light, the photothermal effect of the gold nanorods leads to a rapid rise in the local temperature, thus resulting in the release of the entrapped drug molecules. By integrating chemotherapy and photothermotherapy into one system, we have studied the therapeutic effects of camptothecin‐loaded AuMP‐polyethylene glycol‐folic acid nanocarrier. Results revealed a synergistic effect in vitro and in vivo, which would make it possible to enhance the therapeutic effect of hydrophobic drugs and decrease drug side effects. Studies have shown the feasibility of using this nanocarrier as a targeted and noninvasive remote‐controlled hydrophobic drug‐delivery system with high spatial/temperal resolution. Owing to these advantages, we envision that this NIR‐controlled, targeted drug‐delivery method would promote the development of high‐performance hydrophobic anticancer drug‐delivery system in future clinical applications.     

基于HPMCP包覆介孔SBA-15的pH敏感药物缓释系统

以肠溶性包衣材料羟丙甲纤维素邻苯二甲酸酯(HPMCP)为原料,在负载法莫替丁(Famo)的SBA-15药片表面包覆聚合物膜,成功制备了一种新型的pH敏感药物缓释系统, 并考察了此缓释系统在不同pH释放环境中的释放行为. 结果表明: 在模拟胃液中(SGF, pH=1.2),HPMCP能致密包覆在药片表面,从而明显延缓Famo的释放速度;而在模拟肠液中(SIF, pH=7.5),HPMCP能够迅速溶于缓释溶液中,因而对Famo释放速度的影响甚微. 因此,可以将这种新型智能药物缓释系统应用于肠道靶向给药.