Thermosensitive and mucoadhesive pluronic-hydroxypropylmethylcellulose hydrogel containing the mini-CD4 M48U1 is a promising efficient barrier against HIV diffusion through macaque cervicovaginal mucus.

To be efficient, vaginal microbicide hydrogels should form a barrier against viral infections and prevent virus spreading through mucus. Multiple particle tracking was used to quantify the mobility of 170-nm fluorescently labeled COOH-modified polystyrene particles (COOH-PS) into thermosensitive hydrogels composed of amphiphilic triblock copolymers with block compositions EOn-POm-EOn (where EO refers to ethylene oxide and PO to propylene oxide) containing mucoadhesive hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC). COOH-PS were used to mimic the size and the surface charge of HIV-1. Analysis of COOH-PS trajectories showed that particle mobility was decreased by Pluronic hydrogels in comparison with cynomolgus macaque cervicovaginal mucus and hydroxyethylcellulose hydrogel (HEC; 1.5% by weight [wt%]) used as negative controls. Formulation of the peptide mini-CD4 M48U1 used as an anti-HIV-1 molecule into a mixture of Pluronic F127 (20 wt%) and HPMC (1 wt%) did not affect its anti-HIV-1 activity in comparison with HEC hydrogel. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) was 0.53 µg/ml (0.17 µM) for M48U1-HEC and 0.58 µg/ml (0.19 µM) for M48U1-F127-HPMC. The present work suggests that hydrogels composed of F127-HPMC (20/1 wt%, respectively) can be used to create an efficient barrier against particle diffusion in comparison to conventional HEC hydrogels.

Cell line-dependent cytotoxicity of poly(isobutylcyanoacrylate) nanoparticles coated with chitosan and thiolated chitosan: Insights from cultured human epithelial HeLa, Caco2/TC7 and HT-29/MTX cells.

Nanoparticles composed of poly(isobutylcyanoacrylate) core coated with a mixture of chitosan and thiolated chitosan have already shown promising results in terms of mucoadhesion and permeation enhancement properties of pharmaceutical active drugs delivered via mucosal routes. In the present work, the cytotoxicity of these nanoparticles was first investigated using direct contact assay on undifferentiated human cervix epithelial HeLa cells. The results showed strong toxicity in HeLa cells for the two investigated concentrations 25 and 50 µg/mL. The cytotoxic effect was mainly attributed to the poly(isobutylcyanoacrylate) core since no significant differences in nanoparticle cytotoxicity were reported when nanoparticle shell composition was modified by adding chitosan or thiolated chitosan. In contrast, lower nanoparticle toxicity was reported using human fully-differentiated enterocyte-like Caco-2/TC7, and fully-differentiated mucus-secreting HT-29/MTX cells forming monolayer in culture mimicking an intestinal epithelial barrier. This study demonstrated that the toxicity of poly(isobutylcyanoacrylate) nanoparticles is highly cell line-dependent.

Note on the formulation of thermosensitive and mucoadhesive vaginal hydrogels containing the miniCD4 M48U1 as anti-HIV-1 microbicide.

The miniCD4 M48U1 was formulated into thermosensitive and mucoadhesive pluronic(®) hydrogels as anti-HIV-1 microbicide. The release kinetics of M48U1 from F127/HPMC (20/1 wt%) and F127/F68/HPMC (22.5/2.5/1 wt%) studied during 24h by using Franz diffusion cells showed that HEC hydrogel (1.5 wt%) used as control released 93% of the peptide, while about 25% of M48U1 remained in pluronic(®) hydrogels. The formulation of M48U1 in pluronic(®) hydrogels ensures a local delivery because no diffusion of the peptide was detected through vaginal Cynomolgus macaque mucosa using Ussing chamber. Finally, toxicological studies showed no significant difference in the HeLa cell viability of the pluronic(®) hydrogels in comparison with HEC and phosphate buffer saline.