A self-assembling hydrogel with nanofibres that specifically capture and release anti-inflammatory compounds has been created for applications in targeted drug delivery. The drug naproxen is only unleashed from the gel in basic solvents, a trait that could be exploited to avoid naproxen’s undesirable side effects.
Painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs, such as naproxen and ibuprofen, are ubiquitous in the management of many diseases and injuries. However, even these well-established medications can cause stomach ulcers and other gastrointestinal disorders. Side effects most commonly arise when the drugs are taken for an extended period of time, as in the long-term treatment of arthritis with naproxen. One way of preventing these painful consequences is to encapsulate drugs to restrict their availability in certain parts of the body and target their release to others.
Read the full article in Chemistry World»
Read the original journal article in ChemComm – it’s free to access until 27th May:
Self-assembled sorbitol-derived supramolecular hydrogels for the controlled encapsulation and release of active pharmaceutical ingredients
Edward J. Howe, Babatunde O. Okesola and David K. Smith
Chem. Commun., 2015,51, 7451-7454
DOI: 10.1039/C5CC01868D, Communication
