Hydrogel Drug Delivery for Arthritis
People might out-live cancer and heart attacks, but they’re not likely to out-live arthritis. To deal with this painful disease, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed an injectable hydrogel, tirglycerol monostearate (TG-18), that is loaded with an arthritis drug. “TG-18 is a molecule capable of self-assembling, meaning that it can form a gel-like structure comprising fibers. This structure can be easily injected as a suspension. In this study, the TG-18 hydrogel was loaded with triamcinolone acetonide (TA) used here as a model drug, but could potentially be loaded with many other kinds of anti-inflammatory compounds. The hydrogel is designed so that drug release is triggered by the activity of specific, arthritis-related enzymes that are increased during flares.” MORE
Image Credit: Kai Slaughter and MedicalXpress.com