PLGA from PolySciTech used in development of Donepezil-loaded drug-releasing hydrogel for Alzheimer’s treatment

 

Injectable hydrogels have the capacity to provide for creating a soft, biocompatible structure which can be put into a patient and used to deliver a wide array of drugs or provide a tissue scaffold for cell growth. Recently, researchers at Kangwon National University, Seoul National University (Korea), University of California-Los Angeles, and Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (California, USA) used PLGA (AP059) from PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) to create donepezil-loaded microparticles inside of a HA-DOPA injectable hydrogel. This research holds promise to provide for sustained drug delivery of this molecule as a treatment option for Alzheimer’s disease. Read more: Seo, Ji-Hye, Song Yi Lee, Sungyun Kim, Mingyu Yang, Da In Jeong, ChaeRim Hwang, Min-Hwan Kim et al. "Monopotassium phosphate-reinforced in situ forming injectable hyaluronic acid hydrogels for subcutaneous injection." International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (2020). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141813020344500

“Highlights: Monopotassium phosphate-incorporated hyaluronic acid hydrogel was fabricated. Both incorporation of KH2PO4 and pH modulation were engaged for gel crosslinking. Sustained drug release and prolonged in vivo retention of hydrogel were observed. Abstract: Monopotassium phosphate and pH modulation-reinforced hydrogel based on hyaluronic acid (HA) grafted with dopamine (dopa) was fabricated as one of subcutaneous injection formulations of donepezil (DPZ). Both incorporation of KH2PO4 and pH adjustment finally attributed to tuning viscoelastic and biodegradable properties of hydrogel system. Appropriate gelation time for in situ gel formation, single syringe injectability, self-healing capability, and viscoelastic features were accomplished with the optimization of KH2PO4 concentration in hydrogel systems. DPZ base (as a poorly water soluble drug) was encapsulated in poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microsphere (MS) and it was further embedded in the hydrogel structure for sustained drug release. Biodegradability of designed KH2PO4-incorporated HA-dopa/DPZ MS hydrogel system was assessed by optical imaging and the remained gel weight of crosslinked HA-dopa hydrogel group was 3.4-fold higher than that of unmodified HA-dopa mixture group on day 14 (p < 0.05). Subcutaneous injection of KH2PO4-incorporated HA-dopa/DPZ MS hydrogel did not induce any severe systemic toxicities. All these data suggest that designed HA-dopa/DPZ MS hydrogel structure crosslinked by KH2PO4 incorporation and pH adjustment can be one of promising subcutaneous injection formulations for sustained drug delivery. Keywords: Catechol Crosslinking Hyaluronic acid Hydrogel Potassium phosphate”