Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117585, Singapore.
Pharm Res. 2022 Feb;39(2):281-294. doi: 10.1007/s11095-021-03150-5. Epub 2022 Feb 4.
To investigate and optimize the use of methyl cellulose in the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) printed drug-loaded hydrogel wound dressings for the treatment of burns.
The effects of incorporating various salts on the properties of methyl cellulose, especially the gelation temperature was investigated for methyl cellulose to undergo gelation at skin temperature (i.e., 31.7°C). The optimized methyl cellulose and salt compositions were then loaded with various drugs beneficial for the treatment of burns. Printability and cumulative release profiles for selected drugs were then obtained, which were then fitted to common release kinetic models. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation was also explored to investigate the relationship between printing parameters and the hydrogel filament produced during extrusion.
The printed hydrogels had moderate dimensional integrity, were found to be stable for up to 2 weeks and demonstrated good swelling properties. In vitro drug release studies of various drugs showed that the hydrogel was able to release various drugs within 6 h and release profiles were fitted to common in vitro drug release models, such as the Korsmeyer Peppas model and the Weibull model. While there were deviations from the actual printing process, CFD simulation was able to predict the shape of the printed structure and showed fair accuracy in determining the mass flow rate and line width of extruded hydrogels.
Methyl cellulose hydrogels with optimized salt composition demonstrated suitable properties for a wound dressing application, revealing its potential to be used for in situ wound dressing applications.
研究并优化甲基纤维素在制备用于治疗烧伤的三维（3D）打印载药水凝胶伤口敷料中的应用。
研究了在皮肤温度（即 31.7°C）下使甲基纤维素凝胶化时，掺入各种盐对甲基纤维素性质的影响，特别是凝胶化温度。然后将优化的甲基纤维素和盐成分负载各种有益于治疗烧伤的药物。然后获得了所选药物的可印刷性和累积释放曲线，并将其拟合到常见的释放动力学模型中。还探索了计算流体动力学（CFD）模拟，以研究打印参数与挤出过程中产生的水凝胶细丝之间的关系。
打印的水凝胶具有适度的尺寸完整性，在长达 2 周的时间内保持稳定，并表现出良好的溶胀性能。各种药物的体外药物释放研究表明，水凝胶能够在 6 小时内释放各种药物，释放曲线符合常见的体外药物释放模型，如 Korsmeyer-Peppas 模型和 Weibull 模型。虽然与实际打印过程存在偏差，但 CFD 模拟能够预测打印结构的形状，并能够在确定挤出水凝胶的质量流量和线宽方面具有相当的准确性。
具有优化盐组成的甲基纤维素水凝胶表现出适合伤口敷料应用的特性，表明其有潜力用于原位伤口敷料应用。
