3D printed pH-responsive tablets containing N-acetylglucosamine-loaded methylcellulose hydrogel for colon drug delivery applications

International Journal of Pharmaceutics, vol. 645, pp. 123366

Abstract

The pH-responsive drug release approach in combination with three-dimensional (3D) printing for colon-specific oral drug administration can address the limitations of current treatments such as orally administered solid tablets. Such existing treatments fail to effectively deliver the right drug dosage to the colon. In order to achieve targeted drug release profiles, this work aimed at designing and producing 3D printed tablet shells using Eudragit® FS100 and polylactic acid (PLA) where the core was filled with 100 µl of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc)-loaded methyl cellulose (MC) hydrogel. To meet the requirements of such tablets, the effects of polymer blending ratios and MC concentrations on physical, thermal, and material properties of various components of the tablets and most importantly in vitro drug release kinetics were investigated. The tablets with 80/20 wt% of Eudragit® FS100/PLA and the drug-loaded hydrogel with 30 mg/ml GlcNAc and 3% w/v MC showed the most promising results having the best printability, processability, and drug release kinetics besides being non-cytotoxic. Manufacturing of these tablets will be the first milestone in shifting from the conventional "one size fits all" approach to personalized medicine where different dosages and various combinations of drugs can be effectively delivered to the inflammation site.

Authors 6

1. M. Asadi

   University of Tehran · Maastricht University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran; Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Maastricht University, The Netherlands

   Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Maastricht University, the Netherlands

   Department of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2. Zeinab Salehi corresponding

   University of Tehran

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: zsalehy@ut.ac.ir

   Department of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3. Mohammad Akrami

   Tehran University of Medical Sciences

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

4. Mohammadreza Hosseinpour
   Affiliation as printed

   Research and Development Department, Naya Life Sciences d.o.o, The Netherlands

   Research and Development Department, Naya Life Sciences d.o.o, the Netherlands

5. Stefan Jockenhövel Aachen Faculty of Science and Engineering Department of Biohybrid and Medical Textiles (BioTex)

   Maastricht University · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Maastricht University, The Netherlands; Department of Biohybrid & Medical Textiles (BioTex), AME-Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Forckenbeckstrabe 55, 52072 Aachen, Germany

   Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Maastricht University, the Netherlands

   Department of Biohybrid & Medical Textiles (BioTex), AME-Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Forckenbeckstrabe 55, 52072 Aachen, Germany

6. Samaneh Ghazanfari corresponding Aachen Faculty of Science and Engineering Department of Biohybrid and Medical Textiles (BioTex)

   Maastricht University · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Maastricht University, The Netherlands; Department of Biohybrid & Medical Textiles (BioTex), AME-Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Forckenbeckstrabe 55, 52072 Aachen, Germany. Electronic address: Samaneh.ghazanfari@maastrichtuniveristy.nl

   Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Maastricht University, the Netherlands

   Department of Biohybrid & Medical Textiles (BioTex), AME-Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Forckenbeckstrabe 55, 52072 Aachen, Germany