Rainho Pedro, Salema-Oom Madalena, Pinto Carlos A, Saraiva Jorge A, Saramago Benilde, Silva Diana C, Serro Ana Paula
Centro de Química Estrutural (CQE), Institute of Molecular Sciences, Departamento de Engenharia Química, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal.
Egas Moniz Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Egas Moniz School of Health & Science, Quinta da Granja, Monte de Caparica, 2829-511 Caparica, Portugal.
Biomater Sci. 2025 May 13;13(10):2755-2766. doi: 10.1039/d5bm00191a.
Malignant fungating wounds (MFWs) are cancer-related complications that arise from metastases in advanced cancers. They appear in 5-14% of cancer patients, with higher prevalence in breast (66%) and head and neck (24%) cancers. Novel therapeutic routes for the management of MFWs rely on plant-based treatments, oxymatrine (OXM), an alkaloid derived from a Chinese plant with anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties. The objective of this work was to assess the potential of polyvinyl alcohol/casein (PVA/CAS) hydrogels to be used as dressings for OXM delivery. CAS can stimulate the immune system, while PVA is one of the most used synthetic polymers in the composition of hydrogels for medical applications. Six different hydrogel formulations were prepared following different procedures: freeze-thawing (FT) and cast drying (CD) for 24 or 48 h, with and without the addition of genipin (GE), a crosslinking agent. The hydrogels were loaded with OXM, and their release behaviour was studied. PVA/CAS-24CD + GE showed the best release profile. After being subjected to sterilisation by high hydrostatic pressure, it was further investigated in terms of physicochemical properties, mechanical characteristics and biocompatibility. Overall, this hydrogel revealed adequate characteristics to be used as a biocompatible medicated dressing for OXM release.
恶性溃疡创面（MFWs）是晚期癌症转移引发的与癌症相关的并发症。它们在5%-14%的癌症患者中出现，在乳腺癌（66%）和头颈癌（24%）中患病率更高。用于治疗MFWs的新治疗途径依赖于植物性治疗，氧化苦参碱（OXM）是一种从具有抗癌和抗炎特性的中国植物中提取的生物碱。这项工作的目的是评估聚乙烯醇/酪蛋白（PVA/CAS）水凝胶用作OXM递送敷料的潜力。酪蛋白可刺激免疫系统，而聚乙烯醇是医疗应用水凝胶组合物中最常用的合成聚合物之一。按照不同程序制备了六种不同的水凝胶配方：冷冻-解冻（FT）和流延干燥（CD）24小时或48小时，添加或不添加交联剂京尼平（GE）。水凝胶中加载了OXM，并研究了其释放行为。PVA/CAS-24CD + GE表现出最佳的释放曲线。在通过高静水压灭菌后，对其物理化学性质、机械特性和生物相容性进行了进一步研究。总体而言，这种水凝胶显示出足够的特性，可作为用于OXM释放的生物相容性药用敷料。
