Degree Of Preactivation Research Articles

Preactivated thiolated poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethyl acrylate): Synthesis and evaluation of mucoadhesive potential

The study was aimed to developed and investigate a novel polymer for intestinal drug delivery with improved mucoadhesive properties. Therefore Eudragit® L 100-55 (poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethyl acrylate)) was thiolated by covalent attachment of L-cysteine. The immobilized thiol groups were preactivated by disulfide bond formation with 2-mercaptonicotinic acid. Resulting derivative (Eu-S-MNA) was investigated in terms of mucoadhesion via three different methods: tensile studies, rotating cylinder studies and rheological synergism method, as well as water-uptake capacity and cytotoxicity. Different derivatives were obtained with increasing amount of bound L-cysteine (60, 140 and 266μmol/g polymer) and degree of preactivation (33, 45 and 51μmol/g polymer). Tensile studies revealed a 30.5-, 35.3- and 52.2-fold rise of total work of adhesion for the preactivated polymers compared to the unmodified Eudragit. The adhesion time on the rotating cylinder was prolonged up to 17-fold in case of thiolated polymer and up to 34-fold prolonged in case of the preactivated polymer. Rheological synergism revealed remarkable interaction of all investigated modified derivatives with mucus. Further, water-uptake studies showed an over 7h continuing weight gain for the modified polymers whereat disintegration took place for the unmodified polymer within the first hour. Cell viability studies revealed no impact of modification. Accordingly, the novel preactivated thiolated Eudragit-derivative seems to be a promising excipient for intestinal drug delivery.

Preactivated thiomers: Permeation enhancing properties

The study was aimed to prepare a series of poly(acrylic acid)-cysteine-2-mercaptonicotinic acid conjugates (preactivated thiomers) and to evaluate the influence of molecular mass or degree of preactivation with 2-mercaptonicotinic acid (2MNA) on their permeation enhancing properties. Preactivated thiomers with different molecular mass and different degree of preactivation were synthesized and categorized on the basis of their molecular mass and degree of preactivation as PAA(100)-Cys-2MNA (h), PAA(250)-Cys-2MNA (h), PAA(450)-Cys-2MNA (h), PAA(450)-Cys-2MNA (m) and PAA(450)-Cys-2MNA (l). In vitro permeation studies, the permeation enhancement ability for preactivated thiomers was ranked as PAA(450)-Cys-2MNA (h)>PAA(250)-Cys-2MNA (h)>PAA(100)-Cys-2MNA (h) on both Caco-2 cell monolayers and rat intestinal mucosa. Comparing the influence of degree of preactivation with 2MNA on permeation enhancement, the following order PAA(450)-Cys-2MNA (h)>PAA(450)-Cys-2MNA (m)≈PAA(450)-Cys-2MNA (l) on Caco-2 cell monolayers and PAA(450)-Cys-2MNA (m)>PAA(450)-Cys-2MNA (h)>PAA(450)-Cys-2MNA (l) on intestinal mucosa was observed. The P(app) of sodium fluorescein was 5.08-fold improved on Caco-2 cell monolayers for PAA(450)-Cys-2MNA (h) and 2.46-fold improved on intestinal mucosa for PAA(450)-Cys-2MNA (m), respectively, in comparison to sodium fluorescein in buffer only. These results indicated that preactivated thiomers could be considered as a promising macromolecular permeation enhancing polymer for non-invasive drug administration.

Functional heterogeneity of nonresting B cells in human blood.

Among human peripheral blood B cells we localized the precursors of two interleukin-dependent B cell activation processes: the specific response to a particulate antigen, trinitrophenylated polyacrylamide beads (TNP-PAA) and the polyclonally induced response to pokeweed mitogen. In both cases the precursors belong to the OKB7+, sIgD-, mouse red blood cell- subpopulation. However, they differ when cell density, reflecting the stage of activation reached by B cells in peripheral blood, is considered. Only B cells of intermediate density respond to TNP-PAA, whereas the optimal response to pokeweed mitogen is obtained with the cells displaying the lower density. The lack of response of the more dense (resting) B cells to TNP-PAA suggests that the T dependency of this antigen is not based on linked recognition, and fits with our demonstration that this particulate antigen can trigger B cells in the presence of T cell factor. More importantly, our results show that nonresting B cells are functionally heterogeneous according to their degree of preactivation: the responsiveness to specific signals provided by a nonmitogenic hapten-carrier conjugate would be acquired before that to polyclonal activators.