Production of electrospun fast-dissolving drug delivery systems with therapeutic eutectic systems encapsulated in gelatin

Fast-dissolving delivery systems (FDDS) have received increasing attention in the last years. Oral drug delivery is still the preferred route for the administration of pharmaceutical ingredients. Nevertheless, some patients, e.g. children or elderly people, have difficulties in swallowing solid tablets. In this work, gelatin membranes were produced by electrospinning, containing an encapsulated therapeutic deep-eutectic solvent (THEDES) composed by choline chloride/mandelic acid, in a 1:2 molar ratio. A gelatin solution (30% w/ v) with 2% (v/v) of THEDES was used to produce electrospun fibers and the experimental parameters were optimized. Due to the high surface area of polymer fibers, this type of construct has wide applicability. With no cytotoxicity effect, and showing a fast-dissolving release profile in PBS, the gelatin fibers with encapsulated THEDES seem to have promising applications in the development of new drug delivery systems.The research leading to these results has received funding from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the projects ENIGMA - PTDC/EQU-EPR/ 121491/2010 and UID/CTM/50025/2013, LAQVREQUIMTE: UID/QUI/50006/2013, UCIBIO-REQUIMTE: UID/Multi/04378/2013 (co-financed by the ERDF under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement [POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 007728]) and by FEDER through the COMPETE 2020 Programme. Marta Martins is grateful for financial support from FCT through the grant BIM/PTDC/EQUEPR/121491/ 2010/ENIGMA. This research has also received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/ 2007-2013) under grant agreement number REGPOTCT2012-316331-POLARIS and from the project BNovel smart and biomimetic materials for innovative regenerative medicine approaches^ RL1 - ABMR - NORTE-01-0124- FEDER-000016) co-financed by North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (ON.2 – O Novo Norte), under the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

In vitro evaluation of the erosive potential of viscosity-modified soft acidic drinks on enamel

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this in vitro study was to investigate the effect of viscosity-modified soft acidic drinks on enamel erosion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 108 bovine enamel samples (∅ = 3 mm) were embedded in acrylic resin and allocated into six groups (n = 18). Soft acidic drinks (orange juice, Coca-Cola, Sprite) were used both in their regular forms and at a kinetic viscositiy of 5 mm(2)/s, which was adjusted by adding hydroxypropyl cellulose. All solutions were pumped over the enamel surface from a reservoir with a drop rate of 3 ml/min. Each specimen was eroded for 10 min at 20 °C. Erosion of enamel surfaces was measured using profilometry. Data were analyzed using independent t tests and one-way ANOVAs (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Enamel loss was significantly higher for the regular (Coca-Cola, 5.60 ± 1.04 μm; Sprite, 5.49 ± 0.94 μm; orange juice, 1.35 ± 0.4 μm) than for the viscosity-modified drinks (Coca-Cola, 4.90 ± 0.34 μm; Sprite, 4.46 ± 0.39 μm; orange juice, 1.10 ± 0.22 μm). CONCLUSION: For both regular and viscosity-modified forms, Coca-Cola and Sprite caused higher enamel loss than orange juice. Increasing the viscosity of acidic soft drinks to 5 mm(2)/s reduced enamel erosion by 12.6-18.7 %. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The erosive potential of soft acidic drinks is not only dependent on various chemical properties but also on the viscosity of the acidic solution and can be reduced by viscosity modification