Effect of Different Physical Cross-Linkers on Drug Release from Hydrogel Layers Coated on Magnetically Steerable 3D-Printed Microdevices

Abstract

In the last few decades, the introduction of microrobotics has drastically changed the way medicine will be approached in the future. The development of untethered steerable microdevices able to operate in vivo inside the human body allows a high localization of the therapeutical action, thus limiting invasiveness and possible medical complications. This approach results are particularly useful in drug delivery, where it is highly beneficial to administer the drug of choice exclusively to the target organ to avoid overdosage and side effects. In this context, drug releasing layers can be loaded on magnetically moveable platforms that can be guided toward the target organ to perform highly targeted release. In the present paper, we evaluate the possible application of alginate hydrogel layers on moveable platforms manufactured by coupling additive manufacturing with wet metallization. Such alginate layers are reticulated using three different physical crosslinkers: Ca, Zn or Mn. Their effect on drug release kinetics and on device functionality is evaluated. In the case of alginate reticulated using Mn, the strongly pH dependent behavior of the resulting hydrogel is evaluated as a possible way to introduce a triggered release functionality on the devices.

Gellan Gum- And Pectin-Magnetic Graphene Oxide Nanocarriers Loaded With Cinnamaldehyde for Mosquito Larvae Control

“…A small amount of sample was positioned on the diamond surface. The samples were recorded at instrument settings of wavenumber (4000-400 cm -1 ), number of scans (32) and resolution (8 cm -1 ).…”

“…The London dispersion forces and polarisability may contribute to stronger interactions between polymer chains and larger ions. The cinnamaldehyde release is restricted by entanglement from GG and PEC, therefore the release rates became slow after the burst release effect [32,33]. The maximum absorbance of cinnamaldehyde was detected at 298 nm by the UV-Vis spectrophotometer.…”