Design, Development and Evaluation of Gels for Drug Delivery Applications

A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2023) | Viewed by 2049

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
Interests: topical delivery; transdermal; permeation; IVRT; IVPT; franz cells; nanoparticles; lipid nanoparticles; skin delivery
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Guest Editor
Division of Bioequivalence, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), Silver Spring, MD, USA
Interests: topical drug delivery; transdermal drug delivery; iontophoresis; cyclodextrins; captisol; creams; gels; patches; emulgels; emulsions

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Guest Editor
Assistant Professor & Head, Department of Biological Sciences, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Hyderabad, India
Interests: nanotechnology; psoriasis delivery; topical delivery; creams, gels; nanogels

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Gels are swellable semisolid dosage forms which contain a liquid phase constrained in a polymeric network held together by physical or chemical interactions. These systems are capable of absorbing water or biological fluids to swell. Pharmaceutical gels intended to treat diseases contain medicinal agents incorporated into the system. For drug delivery applications, gels have been explored for several routes of administration, which include topical (skin and eye), intravenous, and oral. In recent times, there have been advances in the development of gel-based formulations. To name a few, these include hydrogels, microgels, nanogels, and emulgels. In addition to formulation development, advances have also been achieved in the area of polymers used for the preparation of gels, which includes the synthesis of new polymers (new methods of synthesis and characterization) and copolymer-based gels.

In this Special Issue, we solicit the submission of research articles, reviews, letters, and mini reviews related to advances in the development of gels for drug delivery applications.

Dr. Pradeep Kumar Bolla
Dr. Abhishek Juluri
Dr. Chandraiah Godugu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

11 pages, 3570 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Application of Double Network Interpenetrating Colon Targeting Hydrogel Based on Konjac Glucomannan and N-Isopropylacrylamide
by Renhua Yao, Xiaoqin Yu, Rui Deng, Huarong Zou, Qingwen He, Wenfeng Huang, Chunxiao Li and Kun Zou
Gels 2023, 9(3), 221; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels9030221 - 14 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1491
Abstract
Konjac glucomannan (KGM) can be degraded by colon-specific enzymes in the colonic environment, making it one of the materials for treating colonic diseases, which has attracted more and more attention. However, during drug administration, especially in the gastric environment and due to its [...] Read more.
Konjac glucomannan (KGM) can be degraded by colon-specific enzymes in the colonic environment, making it one of the materials for treating colonic diseases, which has attracted more and more attention. However, during drug administration, especially in the gastric environment and due to its easy swelling, the structure of KGM is usually destroyed and the drug is released, thereby reducing the bioavailability of the drug. To solve this problem, the easy swelling and drug release properties of KGM hydrogels are avoided by creating interpenetrating polymer network hydrogels. In this study, N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) is first formed into a hydrogel framework under the action of a cross-linking agent to stabilize the gel shape before the gel is heated under alkaline conditions to make KGM molecules wrap around the NIPAM framework. The structure of the IPN(KGM/NIPAM) gel was confirmed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and x-ray diffractometer (XRD). In the stomach and small intestine, it was found that the release rate and swelling rate of the gel were 30% and 100%, which were lower than 60% and 180% of KGM gel. The experimental results showed that this double network hydrogel has a good colon-directed release profile and fine drug carrier ability. This provides a new idea for the development of konjac glucomannan colon-targeting hydrogel. Full article
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