Multicompartment Micro- and Nanoparticles Using Supramolecular Assembly of Core-Shell Bottlebrush Polymers.

Multicompartment particles have been produced to date by the self-assembly of linear multiblock polymers. Besides the large diversity of structures that can be obtained with this approach, these are highly sensitive to dilution and environmental factors. Here we show that using core-shell bottlebrush polymers with a hydrophobic polyester core as starting materials it is possible to create compartmentalized particles from the micrometer size down to the molecular scale. These polymers can be used as building blocks to create multicompartment particles and networks via a self-assembly process. The polymers can encapsulate active compounds and slowly degrade in water into polymeric micelles, making them promising materials for drug delivery applications.

An Alternative Device for the Topical Treatment of Oral Cancer: Development and Ex-Vivo Evaluation of Imiquimod-Loaded Polysaccharides Formulations.

The topical use of imiquimod (IMQ), a non-specific immune response modifier, showed to be a promising therapeutic option for the early-stage treatment of some type of oral cancer, even when performed with a formulation (Aldara®) developed and approved for skin application. The aim of this work was the development of buccal formulations for the topical administration of IMQ with improved mucosal retention and reduced trans-mucosal permeation when compared to the reference formulation. Three different hydrogels based on carboxymethyl chitosan (CMChit), sodium alginate (A), and xanthan gum (X) in different combinations were prepared, and the loading of imiquimod was successfully performed by using a micellar formulation based on d-α-tocopheril polyethylene glycol 100 succinate (TPGS). Except for CMChit formulation, in all the other cases, the performance in vitro on the mucosa resulted comparable to the commercial formulation, despite the drug loading being 50-fold lower. Converting the gels in films did not modify the IMQ accumulated with respect to the correspondent gel formulation but produced as a positive effect a significant reduction in the amount permeated. Compared to the commercial formulation, this reduction was significant (p < 0.01) in the case of X film, resulting in an improvement of the retained/permeated ratio from 1 to 5.44. Mucoadhesion evaluation showed similar behavior when comparing the developed gels and the commercial formulation, and an excellent bioadhesion was observed for the films.