Redox Responsive Copolyoxalate Smart Polymers for Inflammation and Other Aging-Associated Diseases.

Polyoxalate (POx) and copolyoxalate (CPOx) smart polymers are topics of interest the field of inflammation. This is due to their drug delivery ability and their potential to target reactive oxygen species (ROS) and to accommodate small molecules such as curcumin, vanilline, and p-Hydroxybenzyl alcohol. Their biocompatibility, ultra-size tunable characteristics and bioimaging features are remarkable. In this review we discuss the genesis and concept of oxylate smart polymer-based particles and a few innovative systemic delivery methods that is designed to counteract the inflammation and other aging-associated diseases (AADs). First, we introduce the ROS and its role in human physiology. Second, we discuss the polymers and methods of incorporating small molecule in oxalate backbone and its drug delivery application. Finally, we revealed some novel proof of concepts which were proven effective in disease models and discussed the challenges of oxylate polymers.

Smart polymers for cell therapy and precision medicine.

Soft materials have been developed very rapidly in the biomedical field over the past 10 years because of advances in medical devices, cell therapy, and 3D printing for precision medicine. Smart polymers are one category of soft materials that respond to environmental changes. One typical example is the thermally-responsive polymers, which are widely used as cell carriers and in 3D printing. Self-healing polymers are one type of smart polymers that have the capacity to recover the structure after repeated damages and are often injectable through needles. Shape memory polymers are another type with the ability to memorize their original shape. These smart polymers can be used as cell/drug/protein carriers. Their injectability and shape memory performance allow them to be applied in bioprinting, minimally invasive surgery, and precision medicine. This review will describe the general materials design, characterization, as well as the current progresses and challenges of these smart polymers.

Stimuli-responsive and cellular targeted nanoplatforms for multimodal therapy of skin cancer.

Interdisciplinary applications of nanopharmaceutical sciences have tremendous potential for enhancing pharmacokinetics, efficacy and safety of cancer therapy. The limitations of conventional therapeutic platforms used for skin cancer therapy have been largely overcome by the use of nanoplatforms. This review discusses various nanotechnological approaches experimented for the treatment of skin cancer. The review describes various polymeric, lipidic and inorganic nanoplatforms for efficient therapy of skin cancer. The stimuli-responsive nanoplatforms such as pH-responsive as well as temperature-responsive platforms have also been reviewed. Different strategies for potentiating the nanoparticles application for cancer therapy such as surface engineering, conjugation with drugs, stimulus-responsive and multimodal effect have also been discussed and compared with the available conventional treatments. Although, nanopharmaceuticals face challenges such as toxicity, cost and scale-up, efforts put-in to improve these drawbacks with continuous research would deliver exciting and promising results in coming days.

Stimulus-Responsive Hydrogel for Ophthalmic Drug Delivery.

Blindness and vision impairment are major global health problems. Effective ophthalmic drug delivery poses a significant challenge because of protective physiological barriers and various biological clearance mechanisms that result in extremely low ocular bioavailability. Over the past several decades, several safe and effective ophthalmic drug delivery approaches have been promoted to combat these problems and to improve ocular bioavailability. Among these approaches, the stimulus-responsive hydrogel for topical drug delivery has gained increasing attention because of its prolonged drug retention at the local site and enhanced ocular bioavailability. This review summarizes and presents recent advances and perspectives of a stimulus-responsive hydrogel for ophthalmic drug delivery.

"Smart" polymer enhances the efficacy of topical antimicrobial agents.

The delivery of antimicrobial agents to surface wounds has been shown to be of central importance to the wound healing process. In this work, we prepared film forming wound care formulations containing 3 polymers (FTP) that provide broad-spectrum antimicrobial protection for prolonged periods. FTP formulations comprises of a smart gel matrix comprising of pH-degradable and temperature responsive polyacetals (smart polymer) which allow for the FTP films to be hydrophobic at room temperature, preventing accidental rubbing off, and hydrophilic at lower temperatures, allowing for easy removal. Two FTP smart-antimicrobial films were evaluated in this work: FTP-AgSD (Silver sulfadiazine actives), and FTP-NP (Neosporin actives). The in vitro and ex vivo antimicrobial efficacy studies show that FTP-AgSD films are significantly more effective for longer durations against Staphylococcus aureus (3 days), Candida albicans (9 days) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4 days) when compared to the cream formulations containing antimicrobials. FTP-NP films showed significantly improved antimicrobial activity for a minimum of 3 days for all pathogens tested. Moreover, when tested ex vivo in porcine skin, FTP-AgSD and FTP-NP showed average improvements of 0.89 log10 and 1.66 log10 respectively over standard cream counterparts. Dermal toxicity studies were carried out in a rat skin excision model which showed a similar wound healing pattern to that in rats treated with standard cream formulations as represented by reduction in wound size, and increase in wound healing markers.