Poloxamer-Based Hydrogel as Drug Delivery System: How Polymeric Excipients Influence the Chemical-Physical Properties

Abstract

Thermogelling amphiphilic block copolymers have been widely investigated in the development of pharmaceutical drug carriers. In particular, thermosensitive gels based on poloxamer 407 (P407) have great potential for periodontal disease treatment, thanks to their ability to be liquid at room temperature and become viscous gels at body temperature. However, some problems, related to short in situ residence time, reduce their feasible clinical use. Thus, in order to improve the effective applicability of these materials, we studied how P407 thermogels are affected by the pH and by the inclusion of different hydrophilic polymers, used as excipients for increasing the gel stiffness. For this scope, a complete chemical-physical characterization of the synthesized gels is provided, in terms of determination of sol-gel transition temperature, viscosity and erosion degree. The data are correlated according to a statistical multivariate approach based on Principal Component Analysis and their mucoadhesion properties are also tested by Tapping mode-Atomic Force Microscopy (TM-AFM) imaging. Finally, we studied how the different P407 formulations are able to influence the release pathway of two antibacterial drugs (i.e., chlorhexidine digluconate and doxycycline hyclate) largely used in oral diseases.

Enhancing the Antifungal Activity and Ophthalmic Transport of Fluconazole from PEGylated Polycaprolactone Loaded Nanoparticles

“…Accordingly, all the tested formulations are expected to have a shear-thinning flow behavior by which the sample’s viscosity is decreased at a higher shear rate or angular velocity “rpm” (figure not shown). A previous study indicated that the sol-gel transition temperature for the poloxamer 407 thermo-gelling system was prepared using 15–20% w / w polymer in cold water and is in the range of 21.9 to 38.5 °C [ 44 ]. The sol-gel transition temperature of 18% w / w poloxamer 407 aqueous solution is decreased to 22–25 °C upon addition of some additives such as HPMC (0.5–1% w / w ), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (4% w / w ), xanthan gum (0.2% w / w ) or carrageenan (0.2% w / w ).…”

Development of Thermoresponsive-Gel-Matrix-Embedded Amoxicillin Trihydrate-Loaded Bovine Serum Albumin Nanoparticles for Local Intranasal Therapy

“…As shown in Figure 4 , the pH values for all preparations were in the range of 6.7 to 6.9, indicating the non-irritating properties of the formulation and suitable for nasal administration. A slight increase was observed for the formulation containing 22% w / v P407, which does not fit the trend of increasing pH with the P407 concentration, probably due to the interaction with the hydrophilic excipient BSA [ 69 ]. However, this difference with 23% w / v P407 is not significant and, from the therapeutical view, negligible.…”

Clinical Performance Evaluation of a Hyaluronic Acid Dental Gel for the Treatment of Traumatic Ulcers in Patients with Fixed Orthodontic Appliances: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…HA is a hygroscopic macromolecule that is highly osmotic; this property is likely to be linked with the tissue’s response to inflammation [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Savadori et al described similar results in a double-blind randomized clinical trial with the use of 12% polyvinylpyrrolidone and 0.2% sodium hyaluronate for the treatment of minor recurrent aphthous ulcers [ 27 ].…”