Designing Highly Porous Drug-Impregnated Polymer Scaffolds Using Pressurized Gas Expanded Liquids for the Treatment of Lung Fibrosis and Wound Infections

高度多孔材料基于其极高的表面积在许多生物医学应用中提供显著的优势。特别地，对于具有低水溶性的药物的递送，由高度多孔的支架提供的高表面积提供了增强药物负载的独特机会，从而提高药物治疗的功效。 然而，用于制备这种支架的大多数策略都非常缓慢，并且/或者需要使用溶剂或其他添加剂，当材料用于体内时可能会导致问题。我们的知识用户Ceapro（一家总部位于埃德蒙顿的生物技术公司）最近开发了一种高通量和快速处理技术，称为加压气体膨胀液体（PGX），该技术克服了这些挑战，并对所产生材料的宏观尺寸（从大型连续网络到微米级颗粒）以及内部孔隙的尺寸进行了出色的控制。我们还合作开发了以下方法：（1）通过对聚合物支架进行后处理和/或同时进行凝胶化和PGX处理，将这些生物聚合物网络转化为水凝胶;（2）通过简单且无残留溶剂的工艺装载多种药物。在这个拟议的项目中，我们的目标是利用这些优势来解决治疗肺纤维化和感染伤口的关键挑战。对于肺纤维化，产生装载有药物的高度多孔微粒递送载体的潜力将提高基于吸入的治疗的功效;此外，由Ceapro生产的关键生物聚合物之一（β-葡聚糖）提供期望的细胞靶向作用。对于伤口愈合，支架吸收渗出物和负载可调药物混合物的能力提供了递送协同治疗的益处。 治疗抗药性感染的药物组合。总之，这项工作将利用一个专利的Canand新兴的健康 加拿大人的挑战

Highly porous materials offer significant advantages in many biomedical applications based on their extremely high surface areas. In particular, for the delivery of drugs with low water solubility, the high surface area provided by highly porous scaffolds offers unique opportunities for enhancing drug loading thus improving the efficacy of drug therapy. However, most strategies used to prepare such scaffolds are extremely slow and/or require the use of solvents or other additives that can cause issues when the material is used in the body. Our knowledge user Ceapro (a Edmonton-based biotechnology company) has recently developed a high-throughput and rapid processing technology called pressurized gas expanded liquids (PGX) that overcomes these challenges in addition to offering exceptional control over both the macroscopic size of the materials generated (from large continuous networks to microscale particles) as well as the size of the internal pores. We have also, in partnership, developed methods to (1) convert these biopolymer networks to hydrogels by post-processing the polymer scaffolds and/or performing gelation and PGX processing simultaneously and (2) load multiple drugs via a simple and residual solvent-free process. In this proposed project, we aim to exploit these advantages to address key challenges in treating lung fibrosis and infected wounds. For lung fibrosis, the potential to create a highly porous microparticle delivery vehicles loaded with drug would improve the efficacy of inhalation-based therapy; in addition, one of the key biopolymers produced by Ceapro (beta- glucan) provides desirable cell targeting effects. For wound healing, the capacity of the scaffolds to absorb exudate and load tunable mixtures of drugs offers benefits for delivering synergistic drug combinations to treat antibiotic-resistant infections. Together, this work will leverage a patented Canand emerging health challenges for Canadians.