CHITOSAN-G-OLIGO (N-ISOPROPYLACRYLAMIDE) SELF-ASSEMBLY FOR NOVEL MUCOADHESIVE POLYMERIC MICELLES

Poor aqueous solubility of drugs is one of the most challenging drawbacks in pharmaceutical product development. Different nanotechnology platforms have been developed to improve the biological performance of those drugs. Polymeric micelles (PMs), nanostructures generated by the spontaneous arrangement of amphiphilic copolymers blocks above the critical micellar concentration, have emerged as one of the most versatile ones owing the high diversity of hydrophilic and hydrophobic blocks and the chemical flexibility to tailor the amphiphilic structure [1]. PMs were mainly utilized for the intravenous administration of antitumorals drugs and not for mucosal routes because of two main limiting drawbacks: weak interaction with mucus and inability to sustain the release of the encapsulated payload over time. Aiming to extend the application of this nanotechnology platform, our research focuses on the design of mucoadhesive polymeric micelles with improved features for the delivery of drugs by different mucosal routes [2]. In this context, the production and full physicochemical characterization of a novel type of mucoadhesive PMs as well as drug encapsulation assay and a new method to evaluate mucoadhesiveness of non-crosslinked and crosslinked PMs in vitro will be reported.

References

[1] A. Sosnik, In: Smart Materials for Drug Delivery, Alvarez-Lorenzo C, Concheiro A (Eds.), Royal Society of Chemistry, London, Chapter 5, pp. 115-147 (2013).

[2] A. Sosnik and M. Menaker Raskin, Biotechnol. Adv., 33, 1380–92 (2015).