Rosin: A Novel Polymer with Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Applications

The digital light processing (DLP) printer has proven to be effective in biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, as its printing method does not induce shear and a strong temperature on the resin. In addition, the DLP printer has good resolution and print quality, which makes it possible to print complex structures with a customized shape, being used for various purposes ranging from jewelry application to biomedical and pharmaceutical areas. The big disadvantage of DLP is the lack of a biocompatible and non-toxic resin on the market. To overcome this limitation, an ideal resin for biomedical and pharmaceutical use is needed. The resin must have appropriate properties, so that the desired format is printed when with a determined wavelength is applied. Thus, the aim of this work is to bring the basic characteristics of the resins used by this printing method and the minimum requirements to start printing by DLP for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. The DLP method has proven to be effective in obtaining pharmaceutical devices such as drug delivery systems. Furthermore, this technology allows the printing of devices of ideal size, shape and dosage, providing the patient with personalized treatment.

Recent progressions in biomedical and pharmaceutical applications of chitosan nanoparticles: A comprehensive review

Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is emerging as an innovative manufacturing technology for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, since the USFDA approval of Spritam as a 3D-printed drug. In the present review, we have highlighted the potential benefits of 3DP technology in healthcare, such as the ability to create patient-specific medical devices and implants, as well as the possibility of on-demand production of drugs and personalized dosage forms. We havefurther discussed future research to optimize 3DP processes and materials for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. Cohesively, we have put forward the current state of active patents and applications related to 3DP technology in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries including hearing aids, prostheses, medical devicesand drug-delivery systems.

Many kinds of silicones are a wide family of hybrid inorganic-organic polymers which have valuable physical and chemical properties and find plenty of practical applications, not only industrial, but also numerous medical and pharmaceutical ones, mainly due to their good thermal and chemical stability, hydrophobicity, low surface tension, biocompatibility, and bio-durability. The important biomedical applications of silicones include drains, shunts, and catheters, used for medical treatment and short-term implants; inserts and implants to replace various body parts; treatment, assembly, and coating of various medical devices; breast and aesthetic implants; specialty contact lenses; and components of cosmetics, drugs, and drug delivery systems. The most important achievements concerning the biomedical and pharmaceutical applications of silicones, their copolymers and blends, and also silanes and low-molecular-weight siloxanes have been summarized and updated. The main physiological properties of organosilicon compounds and silicones, and the methods of antimicrobial protection of silicone implants, have also been described and discussed. The toxicity of silicones, the negative effects of breast implants, and the environmental effects of silicone-containing personal care and cosmetic products have been reported and analyzed. Important examples of the 3D printing of silicone elastomers for biomedical applications have been presented as well.

Pharmaceutical and biomedical applications of starch-based drug delivery system: A review

Natural polysaccharides, which are described in this study, are some of the most extensively used biopolymers in food, pharmaceutical, and medical applications, because they are renewable and have a high level of biocompatibility and biodegradability. The fundamental understanding required to properly exploit polysaccharides potential in the biocomposite, nanoconjugate, and pharmaceutical industries depends on detailed research of these molecules. Polysaccharides are preferred over other polymers because of their biocompatibility, bioactivity, homogeneity, and bioadhesive properties. Natural polysaccharides have also been discovered to have excellent rheological and biomucoadhesive properties, which may be used to design and create a variety of useful and cost-effective drug delivery systems. Polysaccharide-based composites derived from natural sources have been widely exploited due to their multifunctional properties, particularly in drug delivery systems and biomedical applications. These materials have achieved global attention and are in great demand because to their biochemical properties, which mimic both human and animal cells. Although synthetic polymers account for a substantial amount of organic chemistry, natural polymers play a vital role in a range of industries, including biomedical, pharmaceutical, and construction. As a consequence, the current study will provide information on natural polymers, their biological uses, and food and pharmaceutical applications.

Fluid gels: A systematic review towards their application in pharmaceutical dosage forms and drug delivery systems

In recent times, there has been rapid improvement and achievement in the development of novel drug delivery systems (NDDS) in a microfluidic environment. Microfluidics technology harnesses the fluid mechanics to generate the delivery systems with unique size and shape that can be used for various pharmaceutical applications. However, the conventional methods require bulky instruments, are expensive, consume more power, have a high thermal loss, and require more time. Further, it is very challenging to automate, integrate, and miniaturize the conventional device on a single platform for synthesizing nanoscale delivery systems. There has been considerable advancement in developing microfluidic devices in the last few decades for NDDS. The microfluidic device unveils several features such as portability, transparency in operation, controllability, and stability with a marginal reaction volume. The microfluidic-based delivery systems allow rapid processing and increased efficiency of the technique by using minimum peripherals for its operation. In this chapter, we have discussed the microfluidic devices used to prepare various formulations for several applications. This chapter summarizes the value chain to develop microfluidic devices, including designs, fabrication techniques, and other related methodologies, to formulate various pharmaceutical drug delivery systems in a controlled and selective manner.

Three novel hydrogels with high antimicrobial activity were synthesized from grafting of corn starch with 4-acrylamidobenzoic acid (4ABA) and diallyldimethylammonium chloride as cross-linkers (CLs). Three concentrations of the cross-linker (3%, 5% and 10% based on starch weight) were used to give three hydrogels designated as St-g-P4ABA/PCL3, St-g-P4ABA/PCL5 and St-g-P4ABA PCL10, respectively. The structure of the prepared hydrogels was evidenced by FTIR, 1H-NMR, XRD and SEM techniques. The thermal stability as well as the swelling behavior of the starch hydrogels was investigated, and the results revealed high thermal stability and potential swell ability in water and 9% saline solution for the hydrogels compared with the native starch. They showed a higher swelling degree in acidic, basic and neutral buffer solutions; lower degradation was observed in acidic and basic media after 96 h. Starch hydrogel's antimicrobial activity actions against various types of gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria and fungi demonstrated higher growth inhibition ability against all tested microorganisms compared to zero-native starch inhibitions. The hydrogels did not demonstrate cytotoxicity on normal human cells and can therefore be used safely in pharmaceutical applications and drug delivery systems.

The importance of chitosan (CH) has grown significantly over the last two decades due to its renewable and biodegradable source, and also because of the recent increase in the our knowledge of its functionality in technological and biomedical applications. The present article reviews the biopolymer CH and its derivatives, as versatile biomaterials for potential drug delivery systems, as well as tissue engineering applications, analgesia and treatment of arthritis. CH and its derivatives, as natural antimicrobial agents, can be applied in biomedical, biotechnological, and pharmaceutical applications. Its antimicrobial activity depends on many factors such as its molecular size, source, associated components, concentration, and type of microorganism. In our research described here we prepared and characterized the dynamic viscosity and the rheological properties of a biopolymer material based on CH in solution in acidic water. The dynamic viscosity and shear stress were measured under the influence of an increasing CH concentration of 1–10 g/l and an increasing temperature of 288.15–318.15 K.

Silk is a natural polymer with unique physicochemical and mechanical properties which makes it a desirable biomaterial for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. Silk fibroin (SF) has been widely used for preparation of drug delivery systems due to its biocompatibility, controllable degradability and tunable drug release properties. SF-based drug delivery systems can encapsulate and stabilize various small molecule drugs as well as large biological drugs such as proteins and DNA to enhance their shelf lives and control the release to enhance their circulation time in the blood and thus the duration of action. Understanding the properties of SF and the potential ways of manipulating its structure to modify its physicochemical and mechanical properties allows for preparation of modulated drug delivery systems with desirable efficacies. This review will discuss the properties of SF material and summarize the recent advances of SF-based drug and gene delivery systems. Furthermore, conjugation of the SF to other biomolecules or polymers for tissue-specific drug delivery will also be discussed.

Hydrogels are crosslinked hydrophilic polymer structures that can imbibe large amounts of water or biological fluids. Hydrogels are one of the upcoming classes of polymer-based systems that embrace numerous biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. This review discusses various parameters of hydrogels such as surface properties, water content and swelling behavior, effect of nature of polymer, ionic content, and thermodynamics, all of which can influence the biomedical usage of hydrogels. Meanwhile, intelligent or environment-sensitive hydrogels and bioadhesive hydrogels continue to be important materials for medical applications; therefore, a part of this review is devoted to some of their important classes. Hydrogels are extensively used for various biomedical applications--tissue engineering, molecular imprinting, wound dressings materials, immunoisolation, drug delivery, etc. Thus, this review aims to throw light on the numerous applications that hydrogels have in the biomedical arena.

Biocompatible and biodegradable nanoparticles (NPs) have received significant interest in recent years as suitable carriers of or site specific delivery of therapeutics to overcome communicable and non-communicable injury-based disorders. Carbohydrate-based natural polymers have gained much attention as drug delivery systems (DDSs) due to their eco-friendly nature, cost effectiveness, enhanced biocompatibility, superior encapsulation, and convenient release of drugs. Among the natural polymers, starch as the most abundant renewable polymer is widely considered as a promising candidate for drug delivery and biomedical applications as binder, filler, and disintegrant due to its superior loading efficiency (via certain immobilization strategies) and controlled release of the drugs, therapeutics, enzymes, ayurvedic compounds, and other kinds of bioactive compounds to the targeted site. Functionalization and surface modification of starch by physical, chemical, and enzymatic methods improves the pharmaceutical application of starch as DDS, implants, stent, transdermal and opthalmic systems. This chapter integrates the fabrication, processing, and characterization of starch nanoparticles as micro- and nano-based DDSs and its application in the treatment of cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and infectious disorders. The content, figures, and tables of this review consolidate the various approaches and their mechanism involved in the fabrication of starch-based DDS in order to achieve the pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) exhibit the typical characteristics of inorganic materials that make them promising drug delivery carriers for cancer therapy. Their structural properties allow the targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs to enhance drug efficacy and reduce adverse effects. The functionalization of MSNs with targeting ligands to a specific tissue/cell and stimuli‐responsive capping materials to seal drugs inside the MSNs pores are widely studied for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. Furthermore, multiple stimuli‐responsive MSN‐based drug delivery systems are developed to enhance the delivery of anticancer drugs to their specific target and thereby improve the release of the drugs at the intended site. In addition, several toxicity studies are conducted to evaluate the biosafety and biocompatibility of MSNs. Although MSNs present reduced toxicity compared to colloidal silica, they can induce cytotoxicity associated with oxidative stress by increased reactive oxygen species production and decreased glutathione levels that can ultimately lead to cell death. However, different modifications to control morphology and surface composition can be applied to overcome the biocompatibility concerns. In this review, a comprehensive overview of the controlled synthesis, functionalization, targeting and biocompatibility of MSNs, as well as their biomedical application as a chemotherapeutic delivery system is provided.

Innovative solutions using biopolymer-based materials made of several constituents seems to be particularly attractive for packaging in biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. In this direction, some progress has been made in extending use of the electrospinning process towards fiber formation based on biopolymers and organic compounds for the preparation of novel packaging materials. Electrospinning can be used to create nanofiber mats characterized by high purity of the material, which can be used to create active and modern biomedical and pharmaceutical packaging. Intelligent medical and biomedical packaging with the use of polymers is a broadly and rapidly growing field of interest for industries and academia. Among various polymers, alginate has found many applications in the food sector, biomedicine, and packaging. For example, in drug delivery systems, a mesh made of nanofibres produced by the electrospinning method is highly desired. Electrospinning for biomedicine is based on the use of biopolymers and natural substances, along with the combination of drugs (such as naproxen, sulfikoxazol) and essential oils with antibacterial properties (such as tocopherol, eugenol). This is a striking method due to the ability of producing nanoscale materials and structures of exceptional quality, allowing the substances to be encapsulated and the drugs/biologically active substances placed on polymer nanofibers. So, in this article we briefly summarize the recent advances on electrospinning of biopolymers with particular emphasis on usage of Alginate for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications.