Smart Delivery Systems with Shape Memory and Self-Folding Polymers

New generation delivery systems involve smart materials such as shape memory and self-folding polymers. Shape memory polymers revert back to their original shape above their glass transition temperatures where this temperature change can be induced conventionally, photolytically, with a lazer or magnetically depending on the composition of the material. This ability to assume original shape upon a trigger can be used in delivering drugs, DNA or cells. Self folding polymers are a new class of materials which may be composed of multilayers with different thermal expansion coefficients or with hinges that allow folding upon being triggered. These new materials allow various architectural designs of smart delivery vehicles predominantly for DNA and cells. The aim of this chapter is given shape and folding polymers and their usage for drug delivery systems

QbD Implementation in Biotechnological Product Development Studies

Biotechnological drug development is an extensive area still growing and coming into prominence day by day. Since biotechnological product manufacturing is irreversible, highly expensive, and contains so many critical parameters throughout the process, quality control tests applied to the finished product become inefficacious; therefore, maintaining predefined quality is crucial. Quality by Design (QbD), a systematic approach, is designing and optimizing of formulation and production processes in order to provide a predefined product quality by following a risk and scientific-based path. Determining the critical variables for biotechnological products and their manufacturing via risk assessment is the first and most vital stage of QbD approach, before exploring the multivariate relations among the independent and dependent critical variables by mathematical modeling with the assistive technologies. Response Surface Method (RSM), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), and Genetic Algorithm (GA) are some of the assistive technologies used to perform mathematical modeling. After modeling, additional knowledge is vested and this provides the chance to find a range in which the product quality is always ensured, called as “Design space”. So, product quality is procured all along the process by keeping the critical variables under control with less effort, money, and mistakes

Diabetic Neuropathy and Treatment Strategy – New Challenges and Applications

Smart drug delivery systems are very popular drug delivery systems for treatment to common disease such as gene therapy, heart disease, cancer therapy, and neuropathy. Neuropathy is the most common chronic complication of diabetes that is associated with especially loss of peripheral nerve fibers. Hyperglycemia, insulin deficiency and dyslipidemia largely affect the development and progression of diabetic neuropathy. Several metabolic disruptions including altered protein kinase C, elevated polyol pathway activity, oxidative stress, the formation of advanced glycation and lipoxidation end products, and various pro-inflammatory changes directly affect neural tissue and cause neurodegenerative changes in diabetes. The therapeutic interventions of these metabolic pathways have a limited success to relieve the symptoms of diabetic neuropathy. This review emphasizes on the pathogenesis of neurovascular changes, presently available therapeutic approaches future directions for the management of diabetic neuropathy and related new drug delivery systems