Abstract
Hyaluronic acid (HA) also known as hyaluronan, is a natural polysaccharide—an anionic, non-sulfated glycosaminoglycan—commonly found in our bodies. It occurs in the highest concentrations in the eyes and joints. Today HA is used during certain eye surgeries and in the treatment of dry eye disease. It is a remarkable natural lubricant that can be injected into the knee for patients with knee osteoarthritis. HA has also excellent gelling properties due to its capability to bind water very quickly. As such, it is one the most attractive controlled drug release matrices and as such, it is frequently used in various biomedical applications. Due to its reactivity, HA can be cross-linked or conjugated with assorted bio-macromolecules and it can effectively encapsulate several different types of drugs, even at nanoscale. Moreover, the physiological significance of the interactions between HA and its main membrane receptor, CD44 (a cell-surface glycoprotein that modulates cell–cell interactions, cell adhesion and migration), in pathological processes, e.g., cancer, is well recognized and this has resulted in an extensive amount of studies on cancer drug delivery and tumor targeting. HA acts as a therapeutic but also as a tunable matrix for drug release. Thus, this review focuses on controlled or sustained drug release systems assembled from HA and its derivatives. More specifically, recent advances in controlled release of proteins, antiseptics, antibiotics and cancer targeting drugs from HA and its derivatives were reviewed. It was shown that controlled release from HA has many benefits such as optimum drug concentration maintenance, enhanced therapeutic effects, improved efficiency of treatment with less drug, very low or insignificant toxicity and prolonged in vivo release rates.
Highlights
Polymers based on natural polysaccharides and their derivatives have significant implications in the development of new generation medical materials and drug delivery systems
Drugs were released into the hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel to kill cells and the HA hydrogel was studied for drug dose and time dependence
The sustained release systems can be produced as films, macro/hydrogels, polymeric microparticles, nanogels, nanoparticles and as multilayer films
Summary
Polymers based on natural polysaccharides and their derivatives have significant implications in the development of new generation medical materials and drug delivery systems. Since the focus of this review article is on the release of pharmaceutical agents such as antiseptics indicated that modified HA or HA derivatives possess certain advantages over pristine HA such and natural antioxidants or medical drugs from HA and the release of HA itself from other as higher resistance against enzymatic degradation and delayed aqueous dissolution by attaching biomedical materials, it is important to briefly review recent advances in chemical reactions that are hydrophobic functional groups. Low molecular weight HA was made soluble in an organic solvent by and natural antioxidants or medical drugs from HA and the release of HA itself from other biomedical transforming it to tetrabutylammonium (TBA) salt (HA–TBA) With this derivative, the reaction was materials, it is important to briefly review recent advances in chemical reactions that are used to modify performed in dimethylsulfoxide by adding N-hydroxysuccinimide modified PLA.
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