Evaluation of two polymeric blends (EVA/PLA and EVA/PEG) as coating film materials for paclitaxel-eluting stent application

Synergistic effect of TiO2 nanoparticles and poly (ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) on the morphology and crystallization behavior of polylactic acid

The impact of adding ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA 80) and 1 wt% TiO2 nanoparticles on the morphology and crystallization behavior of poly(lactic acid) blends was investigated using DSC, SEM, and POM. Thermal analysis revealed the enhancement of crystallinity of PLA in the presence of TiO2 and higher EVA 80 content in the blend. The PLA and EVA 80 components showed compatibility, as evidenced by the shift of the glass transition temperatures of the PLA phase in the blend to lower values compared to neat PLA. The lower temperature shift of the cold crystallization of the PLA and the formation of the small spherulites of the PLA in the blends indicated that the EVA 80 and TiO2 act as a nucleating agent for crystallization. The non-isothermal crystallization parameters of the composites were evaluated using Avrami's modified model, the MO approach, and Friedman's isoconversional method. The Avrami's modified rate constant (K) and the effective activation energy values significantly increased with the incorporation of EVA 80 and TiO2 nanoparticles. Furthermore, the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed improved thermal stability of PLA by adding EVA 80 and TiO2.

The Potential Applications of Reinforced Bioplastics in Various Industries: A Review

The introduction of bioplastics has been an evolution for plastic industry since conventional plastics have been claimed to cause several environmental issues. Apart from its biodegradability, one of the advantages can be identified of using bioplastic is that they are produced by renewal resources as the raw materials for synthesis. Nevertheless, bioplastics can be classified into two types, which are biodegradable and non-biodegradable, depending on the type of plastic that is produced. Although some of the bioplastics are non-biodegradable, the usage of biomass in synthesising the bioplastics helps in preserving non-renewable resources, which are petrochemical, in producing conventional plastics. However, the mechanical strength of bioplastic still has room for improvement as compared to conventional plastics, which is believed to limit its application. Ideally, bioplastics need to be reinforced for improving their performance and properties to serve their application. Before 21st century, synthetic reinforcement has been used to reinforce conventional plastic to achieve its desire properties to serve its application, such as glass fiber. Owing to several issues, the trend has been diversified to utilise natural resources as reinforcements. There are several industries that have started to use reinforced bioplastic, and this article focuses on the advantages of using reinforced bioplastic in various industries and its limitations. Therefore, this article aims to study the trend of reinforced bioplastic applications and the potential applications of reinforced bioplastics in various industries.

Advances in continuous polymer analysis in flow with application towards biopolymers

Biopolymers, polymers derived from renewable biomass sources, have gained increasing attention in recent years due to their potential to replace traditional petroleum-based polymers in a range of applications. Among the many advantages of biopolymers can be included their biocompatibility, excellent mechanical properties, and availability from renewable feedstock. However, the development of biopolymers has been limited by a lack of understanding of their properties and processing behaviours. Continuous analysis techniques have the potential to hasten progress in this area by providing real-time insights into the properties and processing of biopolymers. Significant research in polymer chemistry has focused on petroleum-derived polymers and has thus provided a wealth of synthetic and analytical methodologies which may be applied to the biopolymer field. Of particular note is the application of flow technology in polymer science and its implications for accelerating progress towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional petroleum-based polymers. In this mini review we have outlined several of the most prominent use cases for biopolymers along with the current state-of-the art in continuous analysis of polymers in flow, including defining and differentiating atline, inline, online and offline analysis. We have found several examples for continuous flow analysis which have direct application to the biopolymer field, and we demonstrate an atline continuous polymer analysis method using size exclusion chromatography.

Graphical abstract

Stiff-Elongated Balance of PLA-Based Polymer Blends

In this study, polymer blends with a mechanical property balance based on poly(lactic acid) (PLA), stiff polymer, and elongated polymer were developed. First, the binary blends PLA-elongated polymer [ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) or polyethylene], or PLA-stiff polymer [polystyrene or poly(styrene-co-methyl methacrylate) (SMMA)] blends were studied using dynamic mechanic analysis (DMA) and analyzed using Minitab statistical software to determine the factors influencing the elongation or stiffness of the blends. Then, ternary blends such as elongation-poly(lactic acid)-stiff, were made from the binary blends that presented optimal performance. In addition, three blends [EVA–PLA–SMMA (EPS)] were elaborated by studying the mixing time (5, 15, and 15 min) and the added time of the SMMA (0, 0, and 10 min). Specifically, the mixing time for EPS 1, EPS 2, and EPS 3 is 5 min, 15 min, and 15 min (first EVA + PLA for 10 min, plus 5 min PLA-EVA and SMMA), respectively. Mechanical, thermal, rheological, and morphological properties of the blends were studied. According to DMA, the results show an increase in elongation at break (ε_b) and do not decrease the elastic module of poly(lactic acid). Nevertheless, EPS 3 excels in all properties, with an ε_b of 67% and modulus of elasticity similar to PLA. SMMA has a significant role as a compatibilizing agent and improves PLA processability.

Viscoelastic Behavior of Drug-Loaded Polyurethane

Drug-eluting stents are desirable platforms for local medicine delivery. However, the incorporation of drugs into polymers can influence the mechanical and physicochemical properties of said matrix, which is a topic that is still poorly understood. In fact, this is more noticeable since the apposition is most often accompanied by mechanical stresses on the polymer coating, which can induce therapeutic failure that can result in death. It is therefore necessary to better understand their behavior by examining their properties in conditions such as those in living beings. We studied polyurethane drug carriers made in-house. Diclofenac epolamine was chosen as a model hydrophilic medicine. We used thermal measurements (DMTA) and tensile tests. The aim was to establish the influence of the loading and release of the drug on the physicochemical properties of this polymer in the presence of a stagnant or circulating fluid medium, phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). For the two PU/drug loadings studied, the effect of the initial drug load was more marked. The free volume fraction and the number of pores in the samples increased with the increasing percent of the drug and with release time. The kinetic profiles were accelerated with the loading ratio and with the presence of flow. Young's modulus and ultimate stress were not significantly influenced by the release time. A relevant relationship between the tensile properties and the viscoelastic behavior of the samples was developed. Our results have implications for optimizing the performance of drug coatings for stents.

Burgeoning Polymer Nano Blends for Improved Controlled Drug Release: A Review

With continual rapid developments in the biomedical field and understanding of the important mechanisms and pharmacokinetics of biological molecules, controlled drug delivery systems (CDDSs) have been at the forefront over conventional drug delivery systems. Over the past several years, scientists have placed boundless energy and time into exploiting a wide variety of excipients, particularly diverse polymers, both natural and synthetic. More recently, the development of nano polymer blends has achieved noteworthy attention due to their amazing properties, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability and more importantly, their pivotal role in controlled and sustained drug release in vitro and in vivo. These compounds come with a number of effective benefits for improving problems of targeted or controlled drug and gene delivery systems; thus, they have been extensively used in medical and pharmaceutical applications. Additionally, they are quite attractive for wound dressings, textiles, tissue engineering, and biomedical prostheses. In this sense, some important and workable natural polymers (namely, chitosan (CS), starch and cellulose) and some applicable synthetic ones (such as poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly-glycolic acid (PGA)) have played an indispensable role over the last two decades for their therapeutic effects owing to their appealing and renewable biological properties. According to our data, this is the first review article highlighting CDDSs composed of diverse natural and synthetic nano biopolymers, blended for biological purposes, mostly over the past five years; other reviews have just briefly mentioned the use of such blended polymers. We, additionally, try to make comparisons between various nano blending systems in terms of improved sustained and controlled drug release behavior.

Polylactic acid: synthesis and biomedical applications

Social and economic development has driven considerable scientific and engineering efforts on the discovery, development and utilization of polymers. Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the most promising biopolymers as it can be produced from nontoxic renewable feedstock. PLA has emerged as an important polymeric material for biomedical applications on account of its properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, mechanical strength and process ability. Lactic acid (LA) can be obtained by fermentation of sugars derived from renewable resources such as corn and sugarcane. PLA is thus an eco-friendly nontoxic polymer with features that permit use in the human body. Although PLA has a wide spectrum of applications, there are certain limitations such as slow degradation rate, hydrophobicity and low impact toughness associated with its use. Blending PLA with other polymers offers convenient options to improve associated properties or to generate novel PLA polymers/blends for target applications. A variety of PLA blends have been explored for various biomedical applications such as drug delivery, implants, sutures and tissue engineering. PLA and their copolymers are becoming widely used in tissue engineering for function restoration of impaired tissues due to their excellent biocompatibility and mechanical properties. The relationship between PLA material properties, manufacturing processes and development of products with desirable characteristics is described in this article. LA production, PLA synthesis and their applications in the biomedical field are also discussed.

Amphiphilic Copolymer of Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS) Methacrylate for Solid Dispersion of Paclitaxel

Suitable polymers for the homogeneous formulation of drug/polymer mixtures should be selected to correct the structural and physicochemical nature with a rapid dissolution rate. This study aimed to evaluate a copolymer prepared by the radical polymerization of 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) and a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) methacrylate bearing an ethyl (C₂H₅) group (MPC-ran-C₂H₅-POSS) as a carrier for the solid formulation of paclitaxel (PTX). A single-phase homogeneous formulation of PTX with the mixture of the MPC-ran-C₂H₅-POSS and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was prepared by a solvent method. The formulation of MPC-ran-C₂H₅-POSS/PVP/PTX enhanced the dissolution rate and the dissolved amount (approximately 90% within 40 min) without precipitation. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis confirmed the presence of PTX as an amorphous state. The amphiphilic nature of the MPC-ran-C₂H₅-POSS contributed to enhancing the aqueous solubility of PTX. The new formulation is applicable for solid dispersion technique via the supersaturation of PTX in an aqueous media.

Poly (lactic acid) blends: Processing, properties and applications

Poly (lactic acid) or polylactide (PLA) is a commercial biobased, biodegradable, biocompatible, compostable and non-toxic polymer that has competitive material and processing costs and desirable mechanical properties. Thereby, it can be considered favorably for biomedical applications and as the most promising substitute for petroleum-based polymers in a wide range of commodity and engineering applications. However, PLA has some significant shortcomings such as low melt strength, slow crystallization rate, poor processability, high brittleness, low toughness, and low service temperature, which limit its applications. To overcome these limitations, blending PLA with other polymers is an inexpensive approach that could also tailor the final properties of PLA-based products. During the last two decades, researchers investigated the synthesis, processing, properties, and development of various PLA-based blend systems including miscible blends of poly l-lactide (PLLA) and poly d-lactide (PDLA), which generate stereocomplex crystals, binary immiscible/miscible blends of PLA with other thermoplastics, multifunctional ternary blends using a third polymer or fillers such as nanoparticles, as well as PLA-based blend foam systems. This article reviews all these investigations and compares the syntheses/processing-morphology-properties interrelationships in PLA-based blends developed so far for various applications.

Self-assembled photoadditives in polyester films allow stop and go chemical release

Near-infrared (NIR) triggered chemical delivery allows on-demand release with the advantage of external tissue stimulation. Bioresorbable polyester poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) was compounded with photoadditives of neat zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and 980→365nm LiYF₄:Tm³⁺, Yb³⁺ upconverting nanoparticles (UCNP). Subsequently, neat ZnO and UCNP blended PLLA films of sub-50μm thickness were knife casted with a hydrophobic small molecule drug mimic, fluorescein diacetate. The PLLA films displayed a 500 times increase in fluorescein diacetate release from the 50mW NIR irradiated PLLA/photoadditive film compared to non-irradiated PLLA control films. Larger ratios of UCNP/neat ZnO increased photocatalysis efficiency at low NIR duty cycles. The synergistic increase results from the self-assembled photoadditives of neat zinc oxide and upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs), as seen in transmission electron microscopy. Colloidal ZnO, which does not self-assemble with UCNPs, had less than half the release kinetics of the self-assembled PLLA films under similar conditions, advocating Förster resonance energy transfer as the mechanism responsible for the synergistic increase. Alternative to intensity modulation, pulse width modulation (duty cycles from 0.1 to 1) of the low intensity 50mW NIR laser diode allowed tailorable release rates from 0.01 to 1.4% per day. With the low intensity NIR activation, tailorable release rates, and favorable biocompatibility of the constituents, implanted PLLA photoadditive thin films could allow feedback mediated chemical delivery.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Upconverting nanoparticles and zinc oxide nanorods were found to spontaneously self-assemble into submicron particles in organic solvents. Exposure of the submicron particles to near-infrared light allows stop and go chemical release from biocompatible polymers. Sample preparation of thin films is done with ease through physical mixing of the photoadditives followed by air-dried knife casting. A colloidal ZnO variant that does not self-assemble with upconverting nanoparticles had slower chemical release, suggesting that synergistic chemical release is brought upon by highly efficient energy transfer mechanisms when the nanoparticles are less than 10nm apart. Never before seen composite particles of UCNP/ZnO are displayed, which shows the close interaction of the photoadditives within the polymer matrix.

Poly(lactic acid) blends in biomedical applications

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) has become a "material of choice" in biomedical applications for its ability to fulfill complex needs that typically include properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, mechanical strength, and processability. Despite the advantages of pure PLA in a wider spectrum of applications, it is limited by its hydrophobicity, low impact toughness, and slow degradation rate. Blending PLA with other polymers offers a convenient option to enhance its properties or generate novel properties for target applications without the need to develop new materials. PLA blends with different natural and synthetic polymers have been developed by solvent and melt blending techniques and further processed based on end-use applications. A variety of PLA blends has been explored for biomedical applications such as drug delivery, implants, sutures, and tissue engineering. This review discusses the opportunities for PLA blends in the biomedical arena, including the overview of blending and postblend processing techniques and the applications of PLA blends currently in use and under development.

Novel self-assembly endows human serum albumin nanoparticles with an enhanced antitumor efficacy

Protein-based nanomedicine plays an important role in tumor chemotherapy due to their merits in bioavailability, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low toxicity. In this study, we developed a novel method of preparing human serum albumin (HSA) nanoparticles for targeted delivery of paclitaxel (PTX) to tumors. HSA-PTX nanoparticles (NPs-PTX) were fabricated via unfolding of HSA in appropriate solution to expose more hydrophobic domains and consequent self-assembling into nanoparticles with added PTX. Via this self-assembly method, a desirable particle size (around 120 nm), a high drug loading (>20%), and a high encapsulation efficiency (near 100%) were obtained. PTX dispersed as an amorphous state in NPs-PTX and the secondary structures of HSA were maintained. In a cytotoxicity study, NPs-PTX displayed an enhanced cytotoxicity in MCF-7 and A549 cells. Confocal microscopy and flow cytometry revealed that the uptake of NPs-PTX was mediated by secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine and "caveolar" transport. In H22 tumor-bearing mice, NPs-PTX displayed an increasing and everlasting tumor distribution, leading to slower tumor growth and longer mice survival than PTX. Therefore, this novel self-assembly method offers a much easier method to prepare PTX nanoparticles, provides better antitumor efficacy in vitro and in vivo, and more importantly, sets up a delivery platform for other hydrophobic drugs to improve their effectiveness in cancer therapy.

Nanostructured mucoadhesive microparticles for enhanced preocular retention

We describe nanostructured microparticles (NMs) containing a mucoadhesive polymer for enhanced preocular retention and consider them as potential carriers of drugs to the eye. These NMs are each composed of entangled nanofibers to give an enlarged specific surface area, and thus can better adhere to the preocular mucus surface. This physical design allows the microparticles still to be composed mainly of a wall material, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), as required for controlled drug delivery, while the effects of an additive, mucoadhesive material, polyethylene glycol, can be synergistically improved via the nanostructured morphology. Thus, when formulated in a dry tablet dosage form, the NMs in this work show more than a 10-fold increase in preocular retention in vivo compared to conventional spherical microparticles. Therefore, we conclude that these mucoadhesive NMs can reside on the preocular surface for a prolonged period, and thus appear to be a promising system for topical drug delivery to the eye.

Nucleolin targeting AS1411 modified protein nanoparticle for antitumor drugs delivery

Over recent years, cell surface nucleolin as an anticancer target has attracted many researchers' attentions. To improve the antitumor efficacy, we developed a nucleolin targeted protein nanoparticle (NTPN) delivery system in which human serum albumin (HSA) was used as drug carrier and a DNA aptamer named AS1411, which had high affinity to nucleolin, was used as a bullet. The HSA nanoparticles (NPs-PTX) were fabricated by a novel self-assembly method and then modified with AS1411 (Apt-NPs-PTX). The resulted Apt-NPs-PTX were spherical. Compared with NPs-PTX, the uptake of Apt-NPs-PTX displayed a significant increase in MCF-7 cells while there was a decrease in nontumor cell lines such as MCF-10A and 3T3 cells. In a cytotoxic study, Apt-NPs-PTX displayed an enhanced cytotoxicity in MCF-7 tumor cells while there was almost no cytotoxicity in MCF-10A cells. Endostatin, a nucleolin inhibitor, could significantly decrease the internalization of Apt-NPs-PTX, suggesting nucleolin mediates the transmembrane process of Apt-NPs-PTX. Therefore, the AS1411 modified NTPN delivery system might be a promising targeted drug delivery system.

A biodegradable perivascular wrap for controlled, local and directed drug delivery

Perivascular delivery of anti-proliferative agents is an attractive approach to inhibit hyperplasia that causes stenosis of synthetic hemodialysis grafts and other vascular grafts. Perivascular drug delivery systems typically release drugs to both the vascular wall and non-target extravascular tissue. The objective of this study was to develop a biodegradable, perivascular delivery system for localized, sustained and unidirectional drug release in the context of synthetic arteriovenous (AV) grafts used for chronic hemodialysis. To this end, a dense non-porous polymer barrier layer was laminated to either i) a drug-loaded non-porous polymer layer or ii) a porous polymer layer. To provide tunability, the porous layer could be loaded with drug during casting or later infused with a drug-loaded hydrogel. The polymer bilayer wraps were prepared by a solvent casting, thermal-phase inversion technique using either polylactide-co-glycolide (PLGA) or polycaprolactone (PCL). Sunitinib, a multi-target receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, was used as a model drug. In a modified transwell chamber system, the barrier function of the non-porous PLGA backing was superior to the non-porous PCL backing although both markedly inhibited drug diffusion. As assessed by in vitro release assays, drug release duration from the drug-loaded non-porous PCL construct was almost 4-fold greater than release from the porous PCL construct infused with drug-laden hydrogel (22 days vs. 5 days); release duration from the drug-loaded non-porous PLGA construct was prolonged approximately 3-fold over release from the porous PLGA construct infused with drug-laden hydrogel (9 days vs. 3 days). Complete in vitro degradation of the PLGA porous and non-porous constructs occurred by approximately 35 days whereas the PCL constructs remained intact even after most of the drug was released (49 days). The PLGA non-porous bilayer wrap containing 143±5.5mg sunitinib in the inner layer was chosen for further pharmacokinetic assessment in vivo where the construct was placed around the external jugular vein in a porcine model. At 1 week, no drug was detected by HPLC/MS/MS in any examined extravascular tissue whereas high levels of drug were detected in the wrapped vein segment (1048 ng g⁻¹ tissue). At 4 weeks, drug was detected in adjacent muscle (52 ng g⁻¹ tissue) but 13-fold greater amounts were detected in the wrapped vein segment (1742 ng g⁻¹ tissue). These results indicate that the barrier layer effectively impedes extravascular drug loss. Tensile testing showed that the initially flexible PLGA construct stiffened with hydration, a phenomenon also observed after in vivo placement. This characteristic may be useful to resist undue circumferential venous tensile stress produced in AV grafting. The PLGA wrap bilayer formulation is a promising perivascular drug delivery design for local treatment of hemodialysis AV graft hyperplasia and possibly other hyperplastic vascular disorders.

Paclitaxel loaded carrier based biodegradable polymeric implants: Preparation and in vitro characterization

The objective of this study was to develop paclitaxel (PTX) loaded poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) based tiny implants. β-Cyclodextrin (β-CD) and polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000) were used to enhance solubility and release of the drug in the phosphate buffer saline pH 7.4. Implants were evaluated in terms of color, shape, thickness, surface area, weight, drug content. Developed implants were characterized for their surface morphology (SEM analysis), drug physical state by thermal analysis (DSC studies), crystalline nature (XRD studies) and drug excipients compatibility (FT-IR spectroscopy). Macroscopically all the tiny implants were white in color and cylindrical in shape with smooth surfaces. PTX was entrapped within implants in the polymeric amorphous form. In vitro drug release studies showed prolonged and controlled release of PTX with zero order and Korsmeyer-Peppas model being exhibited. Excipients and method of preparation did not affect chemical stability of PTX.

Development and application of a validated gradient elution HPLC method for simultaneous determination of 5-fluorouracil and paclitaxel in dissolution samples of 5-fluorouracil/paclitaxel-co-eluting stents

The combined use of 5-fluorouracil and paclitaxel is common in clinical trials. However, there are few methods for simultaneous determination of 5-fluorouracil and paclitaxel; most reported approaches can only quantitate either 5-fluorouracil or paclitaxel. This paper proposes a new gradient elution HPLC method for simultaneous determination of 5-fluorouracil and paclitaxel using a photodiode array detector, C₁₈ column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) with methanol and 0.5% H₃PO₄ aqueous solution as the mobile phase components. The injection volume was 50 μl and the column temperature was maintained at 30 °C. The method was validated according to USP Category I requirements. The validation characteristics included system suitability, linearity, analytical range, LOD, LOQ, accuracy, precision, specificity, stability, ruggedness and robustness. The calibration curves exhibited linear concentration ranges of 0.2-40 μg/ml for 5-fluorouracil and 1.5-150 μg/ml for paclitaxel with correlation coefficients larger than 0.99990. The lower limits of quantitation were 2 ng/ml for 5-fluorouracil and 0.75 μg/ml for paclitaxel, respectively. The intra and inter-day precision and accuracy were found to be well within acceptable limits (i.e., 5%). The results demonstrate that this method is reliable, reproducible and suitable for simultaneous quantitation of the two drugs in the release media of 5-fluorouracil/paclitaxel-co-eluting stents.