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

Maryam Asadi, Zeinab Salehi*, Mohammad Akrami, Mohammadreza Hosseinpour, Stefan Jockenhövel, Samaneh Ghazanfari*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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 weight percentage 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.
Original languageEnglish
Article number123366
Number of pages15
JournalInternational Journal of Pharmaceutics
Volume645
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Oct 2023

Keywords

  • 3D printing
  • colon drug delivery
  • controlled release
  • pH-responsive polymer
  • personalized medicine

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