Hydrogel with a basic instinct for drug delivery
A recent article on “Self-assembled sorbitol-derived supramolecular hydrogels for the
controlled encapsulation and release of active pharmaceutical ingredients”,
reveals how a self-assembling hydrogel with nanofibres that specifically
capture and release anti-inflammatory compounds has been created for
applications in targeted drug delivery. The drug naproxen is only unleashed
from the gel in basic solvents, a trait that could be exploited to avoid
naproxen’s undesirable side effects.
For more details: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/04/hydrogel-basic-instinct-drug-delivery-naproxen
The article can be accessed at: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2015/cc/c5cc01868d
The hydrogel, devised by David Smith and coworkers at the University of York, UK, could form
the basis of a naproxen formulation that only dispenses the drug under alkaline
conditions, such as those found in the small intestine.
‘Preparing the system is extremely simple,’
says Smith. ‘You mix the gelator and drug in water, treat with ultrasound, heat
and then cool to form the gel.’ He adds that ‘the nanoscale structuring of the
gel fibres means that they have a large surface area, and can therefore
interact with lots of drug – achieving high loading – perfect for
pharmaceutical formulation.’
Two strategies can incorporate drugs into
this type of gel: physical encapsulation
or covalent attachment. In this case, physical encapsulation allows the
naproxen molecules to be discharged if they’re deprotonated, as this weakens
their specific interactions with the gelator. ‘The drug release mechanism is
straightforward and does not involve any covalent chemical modification of the
drug itself,’ says Smith, ‘these characteristics have long been valued by the
pharmaceutical industry.’
Beatriu Escuder Gil from the Jaume I
University in Spain sees potential in the system, having worked extensively in
the chemistry of hydrogels and investigated their application in drug delivery.
‘I like that these are two-component
gels in which the amount of drug is really well controlled,’ she comments.
‘A stoichiometric amount is bound to the gelator, so you don’t have uncontrolled
release.’
The team now need to enhance the system’s
stability at low pH and propose that a secondary encapsulation layer would be a
viable way of keeping the hydrogel intact in gastric acid.
For more details: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/04/hydrogel-basic-instinct-drug-delivery-naproxen
The article can be accessed at: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2015/cc/c5cc01868d
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