Development of Ciprofloxacin-loaded PCL-PEG Hydrogel

The incorporation of polymer blending into hydrogel formulation is expected to improve the drug loading and encapsulation efficiency of the hydrogel for skin application. Star-shaped polymer made up of poly(caprolactone)-b-poly(ethylene glycol) (PCL-b-PEG) has a great potential to be used as polymer blending in the hydrogel formulation as the PCL region can increase drug encapsulation through hydrophobic-hydrophobic interaction with the hydrophobic drug, and the PEG region can increase the solubility of the polymer to be used as a drug cargo in human body. In this study, two hydrogel formulations will be incorporated with different amount of 4-arm star-shaped PCL-b-PEG (4s PCL-b-PEG) to demonstrate drug loading percentage and drug encapsulation efficiency between the two formulations. The key ingredient of the hydrogel consists of the synthesized star-shaped PCL-b-PEG polymers as the drug cargo, along with Carbopol 940 as the gelling agent, ciprofloxacin as the hydrophobic drug model, methyl and propyl paraben as the preservatives, trifluoroethanol, triethylamine, and water. The drug loading and encapsulation efficiency of both formulations were found to be more than 99%, indicating high capability of the formulations as hydrophobic drug cargo

Preparation of six arms Pcl-b-Peg star-shaped polymer hydrogel

Most new develop drugs are hydrophobic and this property gives drawbacks in delivering the new drugs. An amphiphilic drug delivery cargo may overcome this problem with the features of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic. In this study, 6-arms star-shaped amphiphilic co-polymers with average molecular weight (Mn) of 10000 Da were synthesized and characterized for wound healing application. The 6-arms star-shaped polymer consist of polycaprolactone (PCL) hydrophobics system in the inner segment and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG hydrophilic system in the outer segment. NMR and FTIR analyses showed that ring opening (ROP) of ԑ-caprolactone had occurred producing star-shaped homopolymer polycaprolactone (PCL) with di-pentaerythritol as core. Further reaction of these homopolymer with succinilated methoxy poly(ethylene glycol), (mPEG) produced amphiphilic star-shaped polymer consisted of PCL-b-PEG. Thermal analysis of the product using thermogeometric analysis (TGA) shows increased in thermal stability of the star-shaped polymer from 329.7 °C to 377.6 °C after the addition of mPEG. The star-shaped copolymer was incorporated into hydrogel formulation with Carbopol as gelling agent and Ciprofloxacin as drug model to investigate their ability as drug delivery system. The presence of PCL in the formulation showed high drug entrapment efficiency (>95%) via hydrophobic-hydrophobic interaction with the drug

Optimization of calcium extraction from Stichopus Horrens using sulphuric acid

Sea cucumbers, in Malaysia also known as gamat, have been used for food and folk medicine in Asia and the Middle East communities. Sea cucumbers have impressive amount of valuable nutrients. One of the most popular uses of the sea cucumber is for wound healing especially Stichopus horrens. Previous studies showed that S. horrens have a great content of nutrients and minerals. There have been several research showings that nutrients and minerals, such as collagen and calcium, from this species can greatly contribute to wound healing effect. In this study, calcium extraction was conducted and optimized to obtain the optimum amount of calcium from S. horrens. The extraction method that was used is sulphuric acid extraction in a water bath shaker and the drying method was used is oven drying. Five gram of ground S. horrens dried sample were tested under three different sets of variables which are concentration of solvent, temperature and duration of the extraction. In this study, the data obtained from the extractions were analyzed using Two-Level Factorial design from Design Expert software. From the analysis, concentration of solvent was found to be not significant while temperature and duration of extraction were significant. It is shown that the higher the temperature and the duration of extraction resulted higher amount of calcium extracted. In this study, the concentration of solvent used are 2, 3 and 4 M, the temperature that were used are 40, 60, and 80 °C and the duration of the extraction used are 80, 110, and 140 minutes. By using the Design Expert software, the optimum conditions for the calcium content yield would be using 2 M of solvent concentration, 80 °C for temperature and 140 minutes duration for extraction

Systematic literature review on methodology and manufacturing process of personalized tablet using selective laser Sintering technology

3-dimensional printing (3DP) technology has garnered interests as a novel candidate for future pharmaceutical manufacturing. Since the first drug product (Spritam®) has been approved for commercialization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there has been an enormous opportunity for printing custom drugs using 3DP. Many 3DP methods have been documented for pharmaceutical applications in the literature. However, selective laser sintering (SLS) printing remains the least studied for pharmaceutical applications. There are many advantages and challenges in adopting an SLS method to fabricate personalized medicines, such as accurate, cheaper, and simpler ways to configure dosing for certain patient groups. In this study, we systematically reviewed all available literature investigating the technique of personalized printlets using SLS printing, and further discussed the method used in its process. A systematic searching strategy was performed in Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases using predetermined search strings. Of the 122 articles, only eight articles completely met the inclusion criteria, and they were subsequently used for data synthesis. The results showed that the printing process, spectrophotometry analysis, thermal analysis, X-ray powder diffraction and characterization of the printlet were the vital parameters in the printing method, leading to potential pharmaceutical applications in personalized medicine

Ascorbic acid loaded PLGA nanoparticles gel intended to treat oral squamous cell carcinoma

The conventional chemotherapy approach is associated with several drawbacks specifically detrimental adverse effects to the patient and occurrence of chemoresistance towards commonly used chemotherapy which further leads to treatment failure, disease recurrence and metastasis. The main objective of this study was to develop and characterise alternative potential anticancer ascorbic acid loaded PLGA nanoparticles gel for oral mucosa application for the treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Ascorbic acid loaded PLGA nanoparticles were prepared by double emulsion solvent evaporation method followed by incorporation in different concentration of mucoadhesive Carbopol gel bases. The nanoparticles formulation were characterised for various physicochemical properties such as particle size, polydispersity index, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency, drug-polymer interaction, nanoparticles morphology and in vitro drug release profile. Ascorbic acid nanoparticle loaded mucoadhesive gel were evaluated for physical appearance, pH, viscosity, flow behaviour, spreadability, mucoadhesion and in vitro release study. The particle size of the optimised nanoparticles was found to be 252 ± 2.98 nm, polydispersity index of 0.151 ± 0.02, zeta potential of -20.93 ± 0.87 mV and encapsulation efficiency of 69.73 ± 1.07%. Scanning electron microscope images revealed the spherical shape of nanoparticles. The drug release behaviour exhibited a biphasic pattern namely initial burst release followed by controlled release subsequently. The FT-IR result confirmed the absence of drug-polymer interaction. The optimised nanoparticle-in-gel formulation showed a good physical appearance, pH value, spreadability, viscosity and mucoadhesion. The flow behaviour of the optimised nanoparticle-in-gel formulation exhibited pseudoplastic behaviour. The cumulative amount of ascorbic acid released at 6 hours was 42.9 ± 4.3% with zero-order release kinetics. In conclusion, ascorbic acid loaded PLGA nanoparticle-in-mucoadhesive gel was successfully prepared and the study proved the potentiality and suitability of the formulation to be topically applied to treat oral squamous cell carcinoma

A scoping study of sea cucumber as a new therapeutic agent in wounds healing treatment

The ocean is a vast resource of natural compounds that give a number of medicinal advantages to the health functions of human beings. Sea cucumbers, also known as gamat, have long been used as alternative medicine in Asian and Middle Eastern countries, especially in treating cuts and burns. Due to their pharmacological benefits, sea cucumbers have been explored for medical use, especially in dermatological formulas for wound healing. The therapeutic effects of sea cucumber, such as their anti-inflammatory,antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-coagulant properties, due to the existence of biologically active compounds such as saponin, glycoprotein, chondroitin sulphate, phenol, and fatty acids, are imperatively facilitating wound healing management. However, there were still insufficient studies that systematically reviewed the existing literature regarding the evaluation of sea cucumbers as a wound healing treatment. This scoping review will encompass the wound healing potential of sea cucumber for in vivo and clinical studies where the searches were conducted using three main databases, which are PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar, with papers released between 1970 and 2021. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria in which these studies compromise in vivo and clinical studies that evaluate five different types of wounds, which are excision, incision, ulcer, diabetic, and burn wounds. Findings from in vivo and clinical studies provide consistent evidence through macroscopic and microscopic observation; most of the studies prove that sea cucumber can enhance tissue repair and wound healing through fibroblast proliferation, regulation of inflammatory response, and amplifying the angiogenesis process

Ascorbic acid-loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles incorporated into a polyacrylic acid gel as a promising tool for site-specific oral cancer therapy

Background: Chemotherapy is commonly used in oral cancer therapy, especially as the disease advances. However, it is associated with terrible adverse effects and the occurrence of chemoresistance which causes treatment failure. Thus, discovering a new potential anticancer agent and developing a safe, effective and non-invasive drug delivery are necessary. Objective: The objective of the current study is to develop ascorbic acid-loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (AA-PLGA) nanoparticles incorporated into polyacrylic acid gel intended to treat oral cancer. Materials and methods: Double emulsion solvent evaporation method was used to fabricate AA-PLGA nanoparticles. Optimisation was carried out in the primary emulsion based on multilevel factorial design by testing at varying surfactant types and concentrations. The optimised nanoparticles formulation was further incorporated into different concentrations of polyacrylic acid gel, and compared with a mucoadhesive polyacrylic acid-based commercial product (Kin Care) as a reference. The optimised AA-PLGA nanoparticles were subjected to cytotoxic assay against the SCC-25 cell line. Results: For the optimised formulation, we observed particle size of 252 ± 2.98 nm, polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.151 ± 0.02, zeta potential of -20.93 ± 0.87 mV, and encapsulation efficiency of 69.73 ± 1.07%. Polyacrylic acid polymer with a strength of 1% was chosen as the optimum gelling agent for AA-PLGA nanoparticles-in-gel formulation. Cytotoxicity study of the optimised nanoparticle demonstrated significant (p-value < 0.05) reduction of cancer cell viability in a dose-dependent manner with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration value of 2.42 mg/mL. Conclusion: The results of the present study support the feasibility of AA-PLGA nanoparticles-in-gel formulation for oral cancer therapy

Gelatin-based hemostatic agents for medical and dental application at a glance: A narrative literature review

Uncontrolled bleeding is linked to higher treatment costs, risk of post-surgical infection and increased disease and death. Hemostatic agents are used to treat excessive bleeding. A good hemostatic agent controls bleeding effectively, reduces the need for blood transfusion, removes the need for systemic drugs to control bleeding, results in shorter surgery time, and reduces the cost and length of hospital stay of the patient. Gelatin-based hemostatic agents have been widely used in medical and dental procedures, owing to their biodegradability and biocompatibility, as well as availability and low cost of raw materials. In this narrative literature review, we discuss the back- ground and different types of gelatin-based hemostatic agents in medical and dental procedures, the comparison of gelatin-based and non-gelatin-based hemostatic agents, and the usage and develop- ment of enhanced or novel gelatin-based hemostatic agents. Gelatin-based hemostatic agents are effective and important part of bleeding control, as evidenced by its wide application in medicin