Smart Hydrogel
Chronic inflammation of the joints, for example, with rheumatic or psoriatic arthritis, proceeds in waves. Periods of remission are replaced by exacerbations, in which pain and swelling greatly disturb the patient and limit his normal life.
Specialists from Brigham and Women's Hospital have challenged inflammation: they have found a way to fight pain with a hydrogel that releases medication as needed.
Despite the wide variety of drugs for the treatment of arthritis, the issue has not lost its relevance: many of the effective drugs have a systemic toxic effect on the body, and intra–articular administration of drugs is a highly effective treatment, but expensive and invasive. Therefore, a treatment method with a long-term local effect would significantly improve the quality of life of patients.
The new hydrogel consists of triglycerol monostearate (TG-18), a fatty acid ester whose safety has been confirmed. The molecule (TG-18) is capable of self-assembly, it can be organized into a gel-like fibrous structure, which is introduced into the body in the form of a suspension.
In the experiment, the anti-inflammatory drug triamcinolone from the group of glucocorticosteroids was added to the hydrogel. It can be replaced with any other medicinal substance.
The peculiarity of the hydrogel is its ability to release the active drug under the influence of inflammatory factors at the injection site.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the method, TG-18 hydrogel with triamcinolone was injected into synovial fluid taken from the joint of a healthy person. The release of the drug was minimal. When injected into the synovial fluid of a patient with rheumatic arthritis, under the influence of inflammatory factors present in it, the hydrogel was actively destroyed, releasing triamcinolone. It is noteworthy that the level of the active drug correlated directly with the intensity of the inflammatory process. The hydrogel itself did not have a toxic effect on intra-articular structures.
The researchers tested the technique with TG-18 hydrogel and in vivo experiments. They created mouse models corresponding to rheumatoid arthritis in humans. The severity of the inflammation affected the amount of triamcinolone released from the hydrogel: the heavier the course, the faster the hydrogel decomposed. As a result of treatment, the swelling and the degree of inflammation decreased.
When a patient has one or more joints inflamed, local arthritis therapy is preferable, which will help avoid undesirable systemic effects. In addition, if the patient is already receiving systemic therapy, exacerbation of pain in one joint can be treated with local administration of hydrogel, rather than by adding drugs for long-term use.
The study of hydrogel in the framework of preclinical studies continues. In case of accumulation of sufficient evidence of efficacy and safety, it is planned to organize and conduct clinical trials with human participation.
Article by N. Joshi et al. Towards an Arthritis Flare-Responsive Drug Delivery System is published in the journal Nature Communications.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on EurekAlert: Flare-responsive hydrogel developed to treat arthritis.