Thiolated Cellulose: A Dual-Acting Mucoadhesive and Permeation-Enhancing Polymer.

This study aims to design an anionic, thiolated cellulose derivative and to evaluate its mucoadhesive and permeation-enhancing properties utilizing enoxaparin as a model drug. 2-Mercaptosuccinic acid-modified cellulose (cellulose-mercaptosuccinate) was synthesized by the reaction of cellulose with S-acetylmercaptosuccinic anhydride. The chemical structure of the target compound was confirmed by FTIR and 1H NMR spectroscopy. The thiol content was determined by Ellman's test. The conjugate exhibited 215.5 ± 25 µmol/g of thiol groups and 84 ± 16 µmol/g of disulfide bonds. Because of thiolation, mucoadhesion on porcine intestinal mucosa was 9.6-fold enhanced. The apparent permeability (Papp) of the model dye Lucifer yellow was up to 2.2-fold improved by 0.5% cellulose-mercaptosuccinate on a Caco-2 cell monolayer. Enoxaparin permeation through rat intestinal mucosa increased 2.4-fold in the presence of 0.5% cellulose-mercaptosuccinate compared with the drug in buffer only. In vivo studies in rats showed an oral bioavailability of 8.98% using cellulose-mercaptosuccinate, which was 12.5-fold higher than that of the aqueous solution of the drug. Results of this study show that the modification of cellulose with 2-mercaptosuccinic acid provides mucoadhesive and permeation-enhancing properties, making this thiolated polymer an attractive excipient for oral drug delivery.

Hydrophobic surface modification and characterization of melamine foam.

Superhydrophobic and oleophilic modification of commercial acoustic melamine foam (MF) was made in this study. The modification was carried out with chitosan (CHI) and silica particles (SiO2), by using both a layer-by-layer-like approach (LbL) and dip coating technique. Subsequently, 1-octadecanethiol was used as a secondary modification agent. QCM-D, SEM, and FTIR analyses confirmed that the coating was successfully performed. After the modification, the column wall thicknesses increased than that of MF and they ranged from 25% to 48% for modified MF with an LbL-like approach (MMF) and modified MF via dip coating technique (MMFd), respectively. The sorption experiments showed that modified MFs, which had a water contact angle (WCA) above 160°, could sorb several model pollutants (vegetable oil, chloroform, ethanol, and toluene) up to 76-130 times their original weight. It had been determined that MMF protects its open-pore structure better than that of MMFd, which indicated that MF has a more uniform pore structure after modification. Furthermore, after 10 cycles of the sorption and release process, there was no significant change in sorption capacity, and they preserved their mechanical stability and flexibility.

An investigation on tribological behavior of methacrylated κ-carrageenan and gellan gum hydrogels as a candidate for chondral repair.

Natural polysaccharides have recently attracted attention as structural biomaterials to replace focal chondral defects. In the present study, in-vitro tribological performance of methacrylated κ-carrageenan and gellan gum hydrogels (KA-MA and GG-MA) was evaluated under physiological conditions. Coefficient of friction (COF) was continuously recorded over testing whilst worn area was measured post-testing. The findings help improve our understanding of KA-MA-H and GG-MA-H tribological performance under various physiological conditions. The friction and wear performance of the hydrogels improved in bovine calf serum lubricant at lower applied loads. Adhesion was the dominant wear mechanism detected by SEM. Among the proposed hydrogels GG-MA-H found robust mechanical properties, increased wear resistance and considerably low COF, which may suggest its potential usage as a cartilage substitute.

Development of mucoadhesive modified kappa-carrageenan/pectin patches for controlled delivery of drug in the buccal cavity.

In this study, modified kappa-carrageenan/pectin hydrogel patches were fabricated for treatment of buccal fungal infections. For this purpose, kappa-carrageenan-g-acrylic acid was modified with different thiolated agents (L-cysteine and 3-mercaptopropionic acid), and the thiol content of the resulting modified kappa-carrageenan was confirmed by elemental analyzer. Then, the hydrogel patches were fabricated, and characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, ex vivo mucoadhesion test, and swelling behavior. Triamcinolone acetonide was added either directly or by encapsulating within the poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles. The release amount of the drug from the directly loaded patch was 7.81 mg/g polymer, while it was 3.28 mg/g polymer for the encapsulated patch with the same content at 7 hr. The hydrogel patches had no cytotoxicity by cell culture studies. Finally, the drug loaded hydrogel patches were demonstrated antifungal activity against Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus flavus. These results provide that the novel modified kappa-carrageenan and pectin based buccal delivery system has promising antifungal property, and could have advantages compared to conventional buccal delivery systems.

Evaluation of hyaluronic acid nanoparticle embedded chitosan-gelatin hydrogels for antibiotic release.

The development of chitosan-gelatin (CS-G) hydrogels embedded with ampicillin-loaded hyaluronic acid nanoparticles (HA-NPs) for wound dressing is proposed. It was aimed to provide controlled ampicillin delivery by incorporation of HA-NPs into biocompatible CS-G hydrogel structure. According to in vitro ampicillin release studies, 55% of ampicillin was released from CS-G/HA-NPs hydrogels after 5 days. Antibacterial performance of CS-G/HA-NPs hydrogels was proven with agar disc diffusion test. For cytotoxicity assay, fibroblast cell viability increased in CS-G/HA-NPs hydrogels compared with CS-G group after 24 hr incubation. Consequently, the potential ability of CS-G/HA-NPs hydrogels as a controlled drug delivery system has been verified.

Advancements and future directions in the antibacterial wound dressings - A review.

Wound repair is a complex process that has not been entirely understood. It can conclude in several irregularities. Hence, designing an appropriate wound dressing that can accelerate the healing period is critical. Infections, a major obstacle to wound repair, cause an elevated inflammatory responses and result in ultimate outcome of incomplete and prolonged wound repair. To overcome these shortcomings, there is a growing requirement for antibacterial wound dressings. Dressings with antibacterial activities and multifunctional behaviors are highly anticipated to avoid the wound infection for successful healing. The aim of this review is not only to concentrate on the importance of antibacterial dressings for wound healing applications but also to discuss recent studies and some future perspectives about antibacterial wound dressings.

Engineering hydrogel nanoparticles to enhance transdermal local anaesthetic delivery in human eyelid skin.

Herein, we focused on developing the feasibility of nano-enabled local anaesthetic (LA) delivery to anaesthetise the full thickness of eyelid skin. For this purpose a temperature-responsive hydrogel poly(N-vinylcaprolactam-co-hyaluronic acid) (p(VCL-co-HA)) was prepared through aqueous emulsion polymerization with a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved p(VCL) and hyaluronic acid (HA) showing remarkably high LA drug loading capacity.