Search results for "Polymers."
showing 10 items of 3543 documents
From In Silico to Experimental Validation: Tailoring Peptide Substrates for a Serine Protease.
2020
Smart nanocarriers for the transport of drugs to tumor cells are nowadays of great interest for treating cancer. The use of enzymatic stimuli to cleave peptide-based drug nanocapsules for the selective release of nanocapsule cargo in close proximity to tumor cells opens new possibilities in cancer research. In the present work, we demonstrate a methodology for finding and optimizing cleavable substrate sequences by the type II transmembrane serine protease hepsin, which is highly overexpressed in prostate cancer. The design and screening of combinatorial libraries in silico against the binding cavity of hepsin allow the identification of a panel of promising substrates with high-calculated …
In VitroRelease of Local Anaesthetic and Anti-Inflammatory Drugs from Crosslinked Collagen Based Device
2012
The drug delivery systems that are the object of this article take the form of a hydrophilic matrix (collagen or crosslinked collagen) containing a drug. These devices can be used as The model active agents, were chosen from the range of local anaesthetics (lidocaine hydrochloride), anti-inflammatory (diclofenac sodium salt) and antioxydant (caffeic acid). Whatever the drug affinity for water, in the first time of the experiments, the release appears to be systematically delayed when the matrix is crosslinked. For lidocaine hydrochloride based systems, as the amount of drug increases in the matrix, the high gap concentration between the matrix and the buffer solution promote the diffusion a…
Functionalized Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-Based Microgels in Tumor Targeting and Drug Delivery
2021
Over the past several decades, the development of engineered small particles as targeted and drug delivery systems (TDDS) has received great attention thanks to the possibility to overcome the limitations of classical cancer chemotherapy, including targeting incapability, nonspecific action and, consequently, systemic toxicity. Thus, this research aims at using a novel design of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) p(NIPAM)-based microgels to specifically target cancer cells and avoid the healthy ones, which is expected to decrease or eliminate the side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. Smart NIPAM-based microgels were functionalized with acrylic acid and coupled to folic acid (FA), targeting the f…
Amphiphilic Copolymers Shuttle Drugs Across the Blood-Brain Barrier.
2015
Medical treatment of diseases of the central nervous system requires transport of drugs across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Here, it is extended previously in vitro experiments with a model compound to show that the non-water-soluble and brain-impermeable drug domperidone (DOM) itself can be enriched in the brain by use of an amphiphilic copolymer as a carrier. This carrier consists of poly(N-(2-hydroxypropyl)-methacrylamide), statistically copolymerized with 10 mol% hydrophobic lauryl methacrylate, into whose micellar aggregates DOM is noncovalently absorbed. As tested in a BBB model efficient transport of DOM across, the BBB is achievable over a wide range of formulations, containing 0.…
Microfibrillar polymeric ocular inserts for triamcinolone acetonide delivery.
2019
Abstract Despite eye drops generally represent the most convenient, simple and patient-friendly formulations to treat ocular diseases, they suffer from poor retention on the ocular surface and low drug bioavailability leading to the necessity of prolonged and continuous treatment over time. Therefore, ocular insert could represent an innovative way to benefit from ocular topical administration while minimizing all the relevant limitation related to this route of administration. Polymeric non-erodible mucoadhesive ocular inserts should be comfortable and should rapidly adhere on the ocular surface, remain in situ for prolonged period, assure a reproducible and controlled drug release as well…
In vitro study of N-succinyl chitosan for targeted delivery of 5-aminosalicylic acid to colon
2011
In vitro study on N-succinyl chitosan and chitosan (control) matrices for selective colon delivery of 5-aminosalicylic acid is described. Matrices containing β-cyclodextrin were also prepared. As shown by DSC analyses, the drug was successfully loaded into the matrices reaching up to 95% entrapment efficiency. Swelling and drug release were studied at pH 1.2, pH 7.4, and in a pH gradient medium to simulate the gastro-intestinal transit. Main result of this study was a higher capability of N-succinyl chitosan alone to better control drug release in the simulated gastro-intestinal transit: N-succinyl chitosan gave the lowest release in acid medium (≅15%) and the highest in alkaline environmen…
Injectable in situ forming microgels of hyaluronic acid-g-polylactic acid for methylprednisolone release
2013
Abstract A hydrophobic derivative of hyaluronic acid (HA), obtained by grafting polylactic acid (PLA) to the polysaccharide, has been exploited to produce injectable in situ forming microgels. First of all, self assembling properties of HA-g-PLA copolymer have been evaluated by determining the critical aggregation concentration (CAC) value, then this copolymer has been dissolved in a mixture water/NMP 5:2 v/v with a concentration greater than CAC. When solutions at 1% or 2% w/v were injected into Dulbecco phosphate buffer solution (DPBS) pH 7.4, microgels promptly are formed. Their stability in DPBS pH 7.4 in the absence or in the presence of hyaluronidase and cell compatibility have been e…
Polymer-based systems for controlled release and targeting of drugs
2019
The current need to find new advanced approaches to carry biologically active substances (conventional organic drugs, peptides, proteins (such as antibodies), and nucleic acid-based drugs (NABDs such as siRNA and miRNA)) in the body fluids, to realize targeted therapies and even personalized ones, goes hand in hand with research on the performance of new materials to better realize appropriate drug vectors [...]
Polymer therapeutics—polymers as drugs, drug and protein conjugates and gene delivery systems: Past, present and future opportunities
2006
As the 21st century begins we are witnessing a paradigm shift in medical practice. Whereas the use of polymers in biomedical materials applications, for example as prostheses, medical devices, cont...
Ductility of Reinforced Concrete Members Externally Wrapped with Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Sheets
2007
The effectiveness of external wrapping with fiber-reinforced polymer for enhancing the curvature ductility of lightly reinforced concrete members is investigated. Referring to members with circular transverse cross sections, the performances in terms of both strength and ductility capacities are analyzed, and the predictive reliability of two different recent constitutive models, available in the literature and able to take into account the softening behavior of confined concrete, is checked. A parameter characterizing the effectiveness of the confining wrapping is proposed, and characteristic values are suggested. Moreover, referring to ductility increases due to confinement effects, a com…